


clandestine

by oddeyejinsol



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2019-12-30 18:38:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 31,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18320975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oddeyejinsol/pseuds/oddeyejinsol
Summary: ex-spy lip returns for one more mission. her partner is super annoying, which wouldn't be an issue ... if they weren't going undercover as a married couple.





	1. i'm tired of being alone

_ You have one new message. _

Jungeun had been drifting off to sleep when the notification awoke her. Usually, she would turn the phone off and go back to sleep, which was the most interesting part about her life right now. The thing was, though, she hadn’t been in contact with anybody for months. She couldn’t think of anyone who would want to talk to her - except for Yerim, but she usually just showed up at Jungeun’s doorstep unannounced.

She lay silently in her dark room until her mind got too loud to ignore, and she picked up the little device. She should have thrown her phone away long ago - it’s not like she actually used it anymore - but some part of her had been holding onto it for some reason. Maybe this was it.

She was impressed when she realized that the message had been sent to her email. She always used one of many interchangeable burner phones for work-related business. This email was her personal one for shady internet activities, and was just a random string of numbers and letters with no indication of her real identity. The fact that someone had even been able to find it already piqued her interest.

The email was blank, save for a single hyperlink. She clicked it and waited anxiously, her heart drumming suddenly. She waited a solid three minutes before realizing that the page wasn’t still loading, but was simply a plain white page, gleaming from the bright screen of her phone like a beacon in the dark bedroom. 

_ I should just put it away and go back to sleep _ , Jungeun reasoned with herself.  _ It’s probably just some spam email and I just downloaded a virus to my phone.  _ Something wasn’t sitting right about it, though. Her gut was almost always right, even though she had been having a hard time trusting it lately.

In the end, curiosity won. Jungeun heaved herself out of bed with a sigh and padded over to her computer. Her tiny apartment was made up of two rooms - a joint bathroom/kitchen, and a room with her bed and her complicated computer setup. She booted up the computer, unable to remember the last time she had touched it, and opened the mysterious page in her web browser.

Just as she thought, there were clues hidden in the webpage source. Her eyes scanned the coding, and her fingers tapped against her keyboard just as quickly. It had been a long time since she’d flexed these particular skills, but nevertheless it only took her ten minutes of decoding before she had a sentence in front of her:

**VV. 2300 1006.**

It was followed by a set of coordinates, which Jungeun quickly looked up. It was a seemingly random spot on an off-road path in a nearby forest. Jungeun leaned back in her chair, lacing her fingers together. She had heard of the famous Vivi, formally known as Ms. Wong, and how she hand-picked agents like an omniscient eye in the sky. The woman was such a legend that people theorized that she didn’t even exist. Jungeun remembered a time in her life where this email would have her jumping up and down with joy at being one of the chosen ones.

Now, she wasn’t sure at all. Thinking about going back to work terrified her, and for good reason. She knew that Yerim kept telling her that she just needed her time and she would be back, but in reality, she had pretty much accepted that she was going to spend the rest of her life withering in her tiny bed, and probably dying of boredom.

This, though … this was a wild card, something she couldn’t have predicted. It could change things for the better, or for much, much worse. Although, she mused, it was already pretty bad. There wasn’t much of a ways downhill she could really go…

Jungeun sighed and turned off her monitor, the room going dark again. It was a difficult decision, and as much as she hated to admit it, she couldn’t do it alone. She rummaged around in her safe for one of her burner phones and composed a quick text, the first one she’d sent in months. Then she went back to bed, even though she knew it was a futile attempt; there was no way she was going to catch a single wink of sleep.

* * *

The next day, Jungeun sat in the quietest cafe she could find, which was an abandoned internet cafe where all the computers looked like they hadn’t been used in a decade. It was just her and a waitress who kept nodding off to sleep behind the counter. Still, though, Jungeun was dressed in nondescript black clothing and sunglasses. It felt so unnatural to be out of the house at all, let alone in the daytime, and dressing like she was incognito helped her feel less restless.

A bell chimed as the door opened and Jungeun froze instinctively, her muscles tensing. She relaxed when she saw a familiar head of vibrant purple hair. Here was someone who clearly didn’t care about inconspicuousness. 

“It’s nice to see you, Choerry,” she said with a smile, rising to meet the younger girl in a hug. The girls had met on a mission a few years ago and had been close friends ever since. Even when Jungeun pushed everybody away, Choerry was the one person who remained by her side through it all.

“You too, Lippie,” Choerry said, sitting down across from her. “It’s good to see you outside of your apartment, even if it’s in this gross old place.”

“Well, it’s quiet and private,” Jungeun said with a shrug. “I’d rather not have an audience for this conversation.”

“Oh, now I’m intrigued! Hold on, let me get rid of her.” Choerry motioned the waitress over and proceeded to order the most complicated drinks on the menu. The waitress went to the back kitchen, grumbling slightly under her breath, and Choerry turned to Jungeun with a bright smile. “There, she’ll be gone for a good ten minutes. What’s up?”

Jungeun took a deep breath and took off her glasses, fiddling with them. “I got contacted by Vivi. She wants me to meet her tomorrow.”

Choerry gasped loudly, making Jungeun wince; this is exactly why she had wanted a private place. “Lippie! That’s so incredible,” she gushed, grabbing Jungeun’s hand. “I’m so jealous, I can’t believe it! Oh, this is amazing, Lip, you really deserve this.”

“Well … I don’t know if I’m going to take it,” Jungeun said hesitantly.

Choerry’s eyes grew even wider. “ _ What? _ That’s literally insane! You don’t just say no to Vivi, that’s like saying no to… I don’t know, God?! People in our field spend their entire careers waiting for this moment, you know that, right?”

“It’s not really  _ our  _ field anymore,” Jungeun pointed out. “Let’s face it, I haven’t done a single thing in the last year and you know it. Literally not even the most basic jobs, like hacking school websites for college students to boost grades or whatever. I don’t even know why she sent me that message, it was probably meant for someone else. Someone who can actually do the job.”

“Lip,” Choerry said sternly. “Don’t you dare. We both know you’re an excellent agent, so don’t belittle yourself. Okay, so you’ve been on a break for a while. So what? That’s perfectly normal, and all the best agents need some downtime. It has to end at some point, though, and this is the perfect opportunity. Come back with a bang, and all that.”

Jungeun ran her hands through her hair. “I don’t even know if I want to come back at all. I’m not ready and I don’t know if I ever will be. Maybe I should just stay off the grid and out of trouble. God knows I’ve had enough of it for a lifetime.”

“Okay, enough feeling sorry for yourself!” Choerry demanded. “This job is your life, Lip. You cannot genuinely tell me that you think the way you’re living now is enough to satisfy you. I  _ know  _ it’s not. We all have our bad times but what matters is you’re here, you’re alive, and you have a chance. Don’t let that go to waste.”

Just then the waitress came out with their drinks, two huge sugary abominations. Jungeun was grateful for it, because she really didn’t want to continue the discussion. She changed the subject, and Choerry went along, even though the look on her face let Jungeun know that she wasn’t impressed. 

As they talked about various other things, though, she was thinking about what Choerry had said. She wanted to be mad at her for bringing  _ that _ up, but she knew that it was out of the goodness of her heart. Choerry just wanted to help her, to see her working on something again instead of wasting her life away in her house. It was just that she had gotten used to dull and predictable, and the thought of actually doing something exciting just made her feel hopelessly scared.

She couldn’t stop dwelling on the matter, and although she put on a smile for Choerry, she could feel a familiar dark cloud looming over here. When she got home she tried to distract herself by reading, but she was so unbelievably bored. A year ago, Jungeun wouldn’t even have let herself have the spare time to be bored. She was always doing something, something new and exciting and maybe a little bit dangerous. 

Where had that girl gone? She looked the same, but she wasn’t there. She often stared at her reflection, seeing a ghost look back at her. Maybe Choerry was right. She did need to start changing the way things were. The first thing she wanted to do was change how she looked. She felt far too different on the inside, and wanted the outside to match.

After a trip to the liquor store and the pharmacy, she had several drinks and dyed her hair back to brown. She was shaking the entire time. It sounded stupid, but her hair meant a lot to her. It was a reminder of who she used to be. It was nostalgic, but it was painful. After she washed the dye out, she looked in the mirror and saw a familiar stranger staring curiously back.

* * *

 

_ She was so cold. Where was she? Everything was dark. Her leg hurt so bad, and her lungs did too. She was coughing, and salty water was coming up. It was so cold. She was cold. _

_ She was alone. _

Jungeun woke up in a sweat, her body shivering violently. She couldn’t remember what she had been dreaming about, but the sickening feeling in her stomach gave it away. She rolled back over into her pillow, trying to stop the tears soaking the fabric. It had been so long since she’d had that fucking dream. Two weeks, maybe three. She had just started being able to go to sleep without anti-anxiety meds, goddammit. 

_ I’m so not okay,  _ she thought pitifully to herself.  _ I can’t meet Vivi if I’m like this, there’s no way _ . When her crying slowed to sniffles, she pulled herself out of bed and into the shower. The cold water always helped her clear her head. When she got out, she jumped a little when she saw herself in the mirror, not expecting to see the dark sheets of wet hair. 

In that moment, looking at her new reflection, she made the decision to go. Maybe she wasn’t okay, but she never would be if she didn’t climb out of this pit of isolation and emptiness. She just had to suck it up and go. 

She wasn’t supposed to meet Vivi until 11 pm, but she had a feeling that if she stayed alone in the house till then her mind would eventually convince her to chicken out, so she decided to leave the house early. For the first time in forever, she actually went out and did things. She bought earrings, watched a horror movie, ate ice cream in the park. It was nice and a good distraction, and she got a little kick every time she saw her mew reflection in a store window.

She started her journey two hours before the meeting time. The bus would have been faster but she preferred to walk, not wanting to be followed or leave a trace of where she was heading. It was surreal how easily her mind slipped back into agent mode even though she had been out of practice for so long. 

She arrived a few minutes early, so she waited patiently at the spot, wondering what was about to happen. She didn’t see anyone around at all, and no buildings either. The dark, silent forest area was extremely creepy, and Jungeun was not liking it. At 11 pm on the dot, she heard a rustle, and turned around quickly. There was someone coming out of the forest, heading towards her. It was a tiny girl with dumpling hair and a flowy dress coming towards her.

Jungeun was extremely confused, and maybe a little bit scared because the horror movie she’d just watched started a little like this. When the girl arrived in front of Jungeun she gave a small bow, which Jungeun returned.

“You must be Lip. I’ve heard a lot about you,” said the girl. Her voice was much more mature and intelligent-sounding than her cute appearance. “That was some excellent work you did with the Jeon clan a few years ago.”

Jungeun stared at her blankly. A few years ago? What was she then, twelve? The girl continued, “Anyway, I’m Yeojin, Ms. Wong’s personal assistant. She’s asked me to escort you to your meeting today. Follow me.”

With that she turned and started walking briskly where she came from, back into the thicket of trees. Jungeun followed her curiously, wondering what the hell was going on. She bit back her questions as they weaved through the pitch-black forest, but had to speak up when Yeojin paused in front of a large tree and started climbing it. 

“Um,” she started, but Yeojin simply kept climbing. Jungeun sighed and followed her, expertly scaling the trunk. When they got high enough, she realized that there was a hidden hole within a thicket of branches, with a ladder leading down it.  _ This is some advanced shit,  _ she thought as she climbed down the shaft with Yeojin. At the bottom was a small dark room with a glowing pink door. 

“You’ll be going in there to wait until Ms. Wong is ready to see you,” Yeojin said, hopping back on the ladder. “I’m going to go fetch the other agent Ms. Wong has asked to meet.”

“She didn’t say anything about another agent,” Jungeun said, but Yeojin had already started climbing back up and was ignoring her again. All right then. She approached the door, which slid open smoothly, and walked into the room, thinking,  _ here goes everything _ .


	2. new person (same old mistakes)

The door slid closed behind Jungeun, who immediately started inspecting the room. It looked like any regular waiting room one would find in a hospital or airport, but everything was the exact same shade of pastel pink, and by everything she meant _everything_ \- the shaggy rugs and the floorboards beneath them, the curtains and the glass of the window, even the damn door knobs. If it wasn’t so hideous to Jungeun, she would be in admiration of Ms. Wong’s dedication to her aesthetic.

After ensuring that she couldn’t spot any hidden traps or invisible lasers, Jungeun sat down on her hands to keep them still. Even though she was the only one in the room, she couldn’t show any signs of nervousness. There might be cameras trained on her, who knows? The reality of the situation was kicking in, and so were her nerves. She was almost convinced that when she got up there would be a Jungeun’s ass-sized sweat print on the pristine pink couch.

The sound of the automatic door hissing open snapped her attention back, and her hand automatically reached for the gun she kept on her person at all times. _Calm down, she told you there would be another person,_ she reminded herself, and forced herself to relax. A redheaded girl stepped into the room, her wide eyes roving curiously. Although she looked slight and non-threatening there was the visible outline of a gun in her belt, and Jungeun was willing to bet there was a knife tucked into her boot too.

“What a cute room!” the girl exclaimed, scurrying around like a kid in a candy store. Her voice was high and bubbly to match her demeanour. She stopped in front of Jungeun and extended a hand. “Hi, I’m Ttalgi. You must be Lip?”

Jungeun snorted. “Ttalgi? Like a strawberry? That can’t be your name.”

“Of course it’s not, what kind of spy would I be if I used my actual name?” the girl retorted.

“So you chose it, then. That’s even worse,” Jungeun said, unable to keep the sting out of her voice. 

Realizing her handshake wasn’t going to be accepted, the redhead dropped her arm with a frown. “No need to be rude.”

“No offense. I’m just not exactly thrilled to have an oversized child as my partner,” Jungeun said. She wasn’t sure why she was being so snappy. She was already on edge, and the girl’s perkiness just rubbed her the wrong way, especially since she hadn’t been even close to that happy in as long as she could remember and yeah, maybe she was bitter and hated joy now.

The girl sat in the fluffy pink chair across from Jungeun and studied her with narrowed eyes. “It’s never smart of you to underestimate a fellow agent, considering I know everything about you and you clearly know nothing about me,” she said coolly, her tone completely changed.

Jungeun couldn’t help but give a derisive laugh. “Oh, is that so? That’s cute. I think I’m smart enough to clean up my tracks—”

“You’re Kim Jungeun,” the girl interrupted, and Jungeun felt all the blood drain out of her face. How could she possibly know that? She continued, “Your blood type is B, you’re an Aquarius — which is obvious, by the way — let’s see, what else … oh, this is your first involvement in any case since you lost your long-term partner last year during a vigilante robbery. Maybe that’s why you’re in such a bad mood.”

Jungeun saw red. The rage she felt flare up was stronger even than her shock. “How fucking dare you,” she hissed. “Where the fuck do you get off talking about J— talking about my partner? I should kill you, you insolent little girl!” Jungeun rose off the couch, ready to kick the girl’s ass, but she stood too, glaring Jungeun down.

“Get a grip,” she said coldly. “You’re not going to attack me in Ms. Wong’s headquarters because blood wouldn’t go with all this pink, and she’d have your head for it. So unless you plan to kill me and take yourself down too, I would sit back down.”

Jungeun slowly sank back into her seat, still shaking with anger. As much as she hated to admit it, the girl was right. There was no way she was going to risk Ms. Wong’s wrath over a little shrimp like this. Still, though, if they had been anywhere else...Jungeun shook her head to try and dissolve the thoughts of her brutally murdering the girl. It was gonna take a hell of an offer from Ms. Wong to convince her to be partners with this girl.

After a length of tense silence, the doors hissed open again. It was Yeojin, holding what looked like two big pink bubblegum balls. “Hello again. Ready?”

So these were the famous sensory deprivation helmets. The two stood up and allowed the short girl to place the helmets on their heads. They completely cut off all sight and sound so that they wouldn’t be able to tell where the final location was. They walked for what felt like a lifetime, Jungeun growing more and more uncomfortable as she listened to her own erratic breathing. Where were they even going? She hadn’t seen another exit to the room.

Just as Jungeun was beginning to suspect she was getting kidnapped, she felt the helmet being lifted off, and she blinked rapidly, her eyes adjusting to the sudden light. Yeojin had disappeared, and they were standing in a circular pink office. Behind a minimalist desk sat Ms. Wong. She was a lot younger than Jungeun had expected, with oddly whimsical pink hair, and a face like a painting. Behind her a woman with a blunt bob and sharp eyes was sitting, wearing a matching outfit to Ms. Wong’s blue skirt-suit but in all black with a leather jacket on top. From the extremely intimidating vibe Jungeun was getting from her, she assumed this was the bodyguard.

“Welcome. Please have a seat,” Ms. Wong said. Her voice was musical and soothing to Jungeun’s nerves. She was beginning to understand why people spread rumors that she was just a really high tech robot. They stepped forward and sat in the egg-shaped pink chairs. When they were seated, she continued.

“Thank you both for taking the time to come here. Now, before we begin I’d like us all to surrender our weapons.” Noticing Jungeun’s wariness, Ms. Wong continued, “of course I’ll let you keep a small pocket knife, in case of emergency, but all other weapons must be given to my lovely wife here.”

 _Wife?_ The woman Jungeun had thought to be the bodyguard approached them, holding a big black box. Jungeun went first, putting in her gun and taser. Ttalgi pulled out the gun, and a knife in her boot like Jungeun had expected. The woman glared at her and jiggled the box. Ttalgi looked sheepish and, to Jungeun’s amazement, she also pulled out what looked like two small cubes but expanded into a full bow and a quiver of arrows.

“Thank you. Now we can begin,”  Ms. Wong said. She opened a file that was laying in front of her. “The target is commonly known as Go Won. One of the most notorious criminals of the past decade. We’ve got confirmation from an extremely reliable source about what her next move is.”

Despite herself, Jungeun looked at Ttalgi and they exchanged silent exclamations. Go Won was a legend in the spy world. She had a finger in every pie; drug rings, gambling, money laundering… you name it, she made money off of it. She was also an expert murderer, leaving her calling card by tattooing a butterfly somewhere on her victim’s body. However, she never left any evidence and nobody had ever spoken to her directly. She had been committing crimes unpunished for the better part of the past five years, and nobody had been able to get even close to figuring out her identity. Jungeun knew at least a hundred agents who would easily kill her to get on this case.

Ms. Wong continued, “She’s going on a cruise next week to seal a drug deal, according to our sources. You two are going to pose as regular passengers and infiltrate the transaction. You will bring her back to me, preferably alive, but I know shit happens. Either way, this is your opportunity to take down the biggest criminal out there right now. What do you say?”

“Yes!” Ttalgi blurted, barely letting Ms. Wong finish her sentence. “Oh my god, yes!”

Ms. Wong smiled and looked at Jungeun, who bit her lip, worrying it over. This was quite literally the opportunity of a lifetime. Nobody had ever been able to even confirm what Go Won looked like, let alone have the chance to capture her. It was huge. They would have access to so much valuable information if they brought her back alive, and even if they had to kill her, they’d be living legends. But under all the excitement, she felt sick to her stomach. The last time had ended so badly for her and for …

“I’m sorry, I can’t,” Jungeun found herself saying. Ttalgi spluttered, “What?!” Ms. Wong just looked at her analytically and said, “Lip, I know you’ve been out of the game a while, but this could be your big break.”

“Maybe I just don’t want back in the game,” Jungeun snapped, “because this game can be fatal.”

“I know that. Do you think you’re the only one who’s ever lost anybody?” Ms. Wong looked disapproving, which made Jungeun feel awful. “You wouldn’t be doing her any favors by giving up.”

Jungeun felt that hot flare of anger that never seemed to fade no matter how many times someone mentioned her. “You don’t know what the fuck she would have wanted, so don’t act like you do,” she snapped, standing up from her chair. Ms. Wong’s wife/bodyguard was on her feet in an instant, gun trained on Jungeun.

“Honey, it’s alright,” Ms. Wong said, without even turning around. The woman lowered her gun, but didn’t move to sit back down.

“It’s fine, I’m leaving,” Jungeun said, trying to subdue her temper, and walked around on her heel. She was about to start walking off dramatically despite not knowing where the exit was, when she heard Ms. Wong speak again. “This was the case Betta was working on before she died.”

Jungeun stopped abruptly in her tracks. “You better not be just saying that to make me stay, cause that’s fucked up,” she said quietly. Before…the incident, this case was all Jungeun could hear about from her. _I can’t tell you what it is, but dude, it’s fucking massive_ , she would say, and Jungeun thought she was exaggerating, but if this was true…

“I would never disrespect her memory like that. Betta was an excellent agent and I was truly saddened to hear the news.” For the first time since she had started speaking, Jungeun heard a waver in Ms. Wong’s voice. It was reason enough for her to turn back around and sit in her chair again. “Go on,” she said, and Ms. Wong smiled.

“I’ve already created fake identities for the both of you, complete with all the necessary documents and a folder full of background information. You will likely be engaging with Go Won in close proximity, so before you start you need to make sure you know your character inside and out.” She pulled two smaller folders out and handed them to each of the girls. Jungeun accepted hers and began leafing through it.

“Kimberly Wong,” she read aloud from the fake passport.

“Hey, I’m Chuu Wong!” said the other girl.

“What are we, sisters?” Jungeun asked.

“No, you’re newlyweds,” Ms. Wong said casually. Jungeun choked on the breath she was inhaling. Ms. Wong continued, “it’s a family and couples’ cruise, so we need you to blend in with the average passenger.”

“Then why the hell is Go Won there? She’s not married, is she?” Jungeun asked.

“As far as we know, no. She probably chose it because nobody would ever expect her to be there. She’s a smart girl, she’s not going to go choose a high-profile party boat. A nice little couples’ cruise, though, nobody would suspect criminal activity there. Plus, it’s always better to do illegal activities in international waters where the law gets blurred.”

“Thank you so much for this opportunity, Ms. Wong,” Ttalgi - _Chuu_ said, hugging the folder to her chest. “We won’t let you down, I promise. We’ll find Go Won and bring her to you.”

“ _We_?” Jungeun said. “So it’s been decided for me, then?”

Ms. Wong looked her straight in the eye. “Lip, I handpicked you personally for this case. You’re an excellent agent and I think it’s a shame you’ve been out of the business for so long. Now, if you don’t want to do it, you certainly don’t have to. Many, many people would have wanted this, but I chose you because I knew Betta wouldn’t want anyone else taking over for her.”

The mention of her late partner made Jungeun’s heart squeeze painfully. Fuck, she was right. Jungeun was unofficially Jinsol’s next of kin, and she knew deep down that Jinsol would have rather died all over again than let anyone else take her case.

“Alright,” Jungeun finally broke the silence. “I’ll do it.”

Ms. Wong gave a triumphant smile. “Excellent. The cruise leaves in exactly two weeks. All the information you leave is in those folders. There’s also contact information for one of my girls in case you need to get in touch with me.” Her wife stood up once more and returned the weapons back to the girls, and also pulled out two helmets from the box.

The last thing Jungeun heard before her senses were cut off was Ms. Wong’s clear voice, saying determinedly, “Let’s get her, girls.”

* * *

 By the time Jungeun got home, it was nearly 3 am and she was tired down to her bones. She was glad for the exhaustion, though, because it allowed her to have a deep and dreamless sleep. The next day she woke up feeling rested and took her morning coffee to bed, reviewing the file. Ms. Wong was meticulous, she’d give her that. Every detail of her fake life was accounted for. Kimberly was a real estate agent, newly married to Chuu whom she had known since middle school, and the cruise was the last stretch of their month-long honeymoon. She had an ID, driver’s license, passport, and she had also found several rolls of cash in the back of the folder.

She was beginning to actually get excited about this, but a dark voice in the back of her head kept speaking up. A year was an awfully time to be away from work, especially such dangerous and meticulous work. Was she really ready to jump back in with such a huge case?

On the other hand, though, she missed her job. She missed the thrill of danger, the rushes of adrenaline, the satisfaction she got when she completed a mission successfully. If anything was going to distract her and keep her head above water, it was going to be this. Also, Ms. Wong was known for her generous paychecks, so maybe Jungeun wouldn’t have to keep hacking bank accounts and skimming money to fund her living expenses.

There was also the issue of Chuu (Jungeun had begun practicing calling her that so that there would be no slip-ups). Jungeun definitely was not what one would call friendly, but she could usually tolerate her colleagues. Chuu, however, was annoying and disrespectful. First impressions mattered a lot to Jungeun, because she could really hold a grudge and she rarely gave second chances. Still, though, Chuu was right about Jungeun underestimating her. Maybe they would be able to work well together, even if they didn’t like each other.

Still, though … there was no way she’d ever come close to Jinsol. Jungeun felt the familiar prick of hot tears that sprung up whenever she started thinking about her late partner. If she believed in soulmates, Jinsol had been hers. She was her best friend, her sister, the most important person in her life. Jungeun literally felt like a part of her had been taken away with Jinsol. How was she supposed to settle for this new partner when she’d already had the best one she could have?

The funny thing is, she knew exactly what Jinsol would do if she was here. She would pinch Jungeun’s arm and say, _Stop thinking so hard, just do it!_ That had pretty much been Jinsol’s philosophy of life. At least, Jungeun thought bitterly, she died the way she lived. Recklessly.

Her entire body tensed up when she heard a knock at the door. The sound felt alien to her, she hadn’t heard it in so long. Her body acted automatically, grabbing the gun she kept under the bed and approaching the door in a defensive stance. When she checked the peephole though, she untensed and threw the door open.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” she hissed at Chuu, who stood innocently in the doorway. “I could have killed you, idiot!”

“I’m sure that would be a great loss for you. Aren’t you going to invite me in?” Without awaiting a response from Jungeun, she strolled in like she owned the place, wrinkling her nose as she looked around. “Oh, this is totally a shithole. How do you live like this?”

Accepting that the girl wasn’t about to leave, Jungeun slammed the door shut. “I’m sorry, do you need something? Or did you just come here to insult my interior design choices? Besides, how the fuck do you know where I live?”

“You know I’m not going to answer that,” Chuu said, leaning against the wall. “Anyway, I’m here to practice. We only have two weeks to get all this information down.”

“Yeah, I know, I’ve gone undercover before, I don’t need a study buddy,” Jungeun said irritably. Her good mood had vanished and she needed the coffee to kick in _now_.

“I don’t doubt that,” Chuu said calmly. “I’m sure you can memorize everything perfectly, but we have to have our dynamic perfected. We’re playing a newly married couple and we need to be able to convince everybody on that boat that we’re madly in love. _Especially_ Go Won, because she’s probably able to spot agents a mile away.” Noticing that Jungeun had seemingly spaced out, Chuu waved her hand in her face impatiently. “Hello?”

Jungeun shook her head a little. “Sorry, just … it’s a boat. I mean, I knew that, obviously, I read the file, but it only used the word cruise and I guess it didn’t click. Never mind. Fine, we can practice.”

Chuu tilted her head slightly, giving Jungeun that look of pity that she hated so much. It was part of the reason why she had shut herself away from everybody. She couldn’t bear to be looked at like that. “Stop it,” she snapped at Chuu, who recomposed her face into a neutral expression.

“Sorry. I don’t mean to pry, but—”

“Nope, we’re not talking about this.”

“ _But_ ,” Chuu repeated, louder, “just listen, goddammit. I’ve lost friends too, okay? Good friends. One of them was at Go Won’s hands. So I understand how you feel. I won’t say anything more about it, just don’t think I’m pitying you, cause I’m not, I’m just being empathetic.”

“Okay, Jesus, you talk a lot,” Jungeun muttered, desperate to change the subject. “Can we start studying or whatever? Please?”

“Okay,” Chuu said, perching gingerly at the end of Jungeun’s messy bed like it was going to give her cooties. “Let’s start with the basics. Pet names? I was thinking honey or sugar.”

Jungeun sighed internally, feeling the beginnings of a headache coming on. This was going to be a long two weeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :) i hope you all enjoyed this!! pls leave a comment if you’d like or hmu on my social media:~
> 
> cc: curiouscat.me/oddeyejinsol  
> twitter: @oddeyejinsol


	3. better alone than lonely

“I’ll have the steak, medium rare, and a spaghetti Alfredo for my lovely wife,” Chuu said with a megawatt smile. Jungeun smiled too, even though she hated absolutely everything about this. They were out on a fake date at an unnecessarily fancy Italian restaurant, and with Chuu’s acting you’d think she was going for the Oscar. She didn’t even fucking like Alfredo.

“How cute,” the waitress gushed, writing down their order. “Have you two been married long?”

Chuu looked at Jungeun with a disgustingly loving expression. “No, we’re still on our honeymoon, actually!”

The waitress squealed. “Oh, cause for celebration! Shall we have some champagne?”

Chuu smiled at Jungeun, but kicked her under the table, clearly waiting for her to say something too. Jungeun forced a smile and enthusiastically said, “Oh, why not! Let’s get the most expensive one on the menu. Nothing is too good for my darling!” As the waitress walked away, she dropped the smile and glared daggers at Chuu. “You’re paying.”

“Of course, it would be weird for a married couple to pay two separate bills,” Chuu said.

“Do we really have to do this? It’s so dumb,” Jungeun whined.

“It’s necessary window shopping, and it’s how we’re gonna have to be acting for the next month, all the time,” Chuu retorted. “Let’s face it, we clearly need practice.”

“I thought we did a great job. I mean, she was clearly convinced,” Jungeun argued.

“Well, your face says loving wife, but I can see in your eyes that you just want to strangle me, and if I can see it, Go Won definitely will be able to,” Chuu pointed out.

Jungeun folded her arms, having to agree. If you couldn’t have your backstory down, there was no hope for your mission at all. It was the most fundamental part of going undercover. As stupid as she felt, she knew she had to do it, and as much as Chuu annoyed her, she could see that she was a skilled agent.

The waitress came back with their champagne, and Jungeun wasted no time in pouring herself a generous glass. At least this wasn’t  _ all  _ bad. Honeymoons involved copious amounts of alcohol, and Jungeun could genuinely say she was looking forward to that part. 

Chuu raised her glass. “Let’s toast. To love?”

Jungeun paused, but clinked her own glass against it. “To taking this bitch down.”

Chuu grinned. “Yeah, I like yours better.”

* * *

_ Sneaking aboard the yacht had been no problem. Nobody batted an eyelid at two pretty blondes showing up to the party. It was a gathering of the rich and the elite, meaning that it was a goldmine for Jungeun and Jinsol. Theft was something they were both good at, and everybody there was fucked up on varying amounts of alcohol and drugs, making it even easier to swipe their purses and pearls. _

_ Jungeun was the one to suggest it, because she specifically wanted to target the man throwing the party. He was filthy rich with a father who worked in the government, meaning that he could rack up countless DUIs and sexual assault charges and get off spotless every time. Being the vigilante was always Jungeun's thing, and she wanted to serve him justice.  _

_ It was almost too easy to drug his drink and lure him into one of the private rooms of the yacht. “Are there two of you, or am I just really drunk?” he slurred as Jungeun deftly snuck his wallet out of his back pocket. _

_ “It’s just me, babe. Will you go into the bathroom and freshen up for me?” Jinsol said coyly. The man almost tripped over himself to get there. It was only moments before they heard the loud thump of his body hitting the floor. _

_ Jinsol raised her eyebrows. “Choerry wasn’t kidding, that shit works fast,” she said, impressed. Jungeun was busy ruffling through the wallet, giving a yell of triumph when she found up a sleek black card which she held up like a trophy. _

_ “We might as well go home now, cause we can probably drain this card monthly and the fucker won’t even notice,” she said gleefully. Jinsol whooped and jumped on the fluffy white bed, giggling with glee. _

_ “We are a fucking awesome team,” she declared, and she and Jungeun shared a grin. The moment was ruined when they heard a distant  _ boom  _ almost instantly followed by the sound of screaming. _

_ “The fuck?” Jungeun said, both of them rising to their feet. They opened the door, but as soon as they stepped out of the room they were hurled into a stampede of running people. They tried to keep up, but Jungeun was roughly shoved to the floor. She landed on her leg with a sickening snap, and she couldn't help the pained scream that escaped her lips. _

_ “Oh, shit! Lippie, are you okay?!” Jinsol exclaimed, rushing to her friend’s side. Jungeun winced as Jinsol helped her to her feet. _

_ “Fuck, it hurts like hell. I think it’s broken,” Jungeun whimpered, squeezing her eyes shut. “I-I can walk, just help me, okay?” _

_ “What is going on?” Jinsol yelled in panic at a girl beside her, helping her partner up. _

_ “S-some guy … bottle of vodka … fire!” was all Jinsol could make out in the midst of the commotion. She became acutely aware of the faint smell of smoke that was steadily growing stronger. _

_ Once there was some space, she pulled Jungeun aside and whispered urgently to her. “There’s a fire, everyone’s gonna evacuate, there are gonna be cops at the scene, and we have hundreds of thousands of stolen goods, so please tell me you know how to get to the lifeboats.” _

_ Jungeun closed her eyes, mentally recalling the map of the boat she had studied. “Um, yeah, okay, follow me.” Fighting through the stabbing pain in her leg, Jungeun led her partner down a small stairwell and round several corners until they reached the lifeboat port. Thanks to the commotion and the drunken state of all of the passengers, they had been the first to arrive. _

_ Working quickly, they unloaded their haul and themselves into one of the boats, and Jinsol managed to get it running, her mechanical expertise coming in handy. In a matter of moments they were gliding away from the side of the yacht, the sight of orange flames now visible from the outside. _

_ Jinsol took a deep breath and slouched against the side of the boat. “That was fucking scary.” _

_ “Yeah,” Jungeun breathed. “At least we got our shit and got out, right?” It seemed she had spoken too soon, though, because the engine began to sputter ominously and the boat jolted and slowed. _

_ “Oh, goddammit…” Jinsol leaned over the edge and inspected the engine. “Shit, the engine’s too weak to carry all this weight.” _

_ “Um, we can throw some of the stuff overboard?” Jungeun said, trying not to panic. _

_ Jinsol shook her head. “No, it won’t be enough. Okay, okay. I… I’ll swim back to shore. That should make the boat light enough for you to get back.” _

_ “What? No way,” Jungeun exclaimed. _

_ “C’mon, we weren’t that far from the shore in the first place, and you know I’m an excellent swimmer. You’re the one who always says I’m part fish, right?” _

_ “At least let me come with you!” _

_ “Don’t be stupid, your leg is probably broken. Besides, I’ll kill you if you don’t get all this loot back to shore safely.” That earned a half-smile out of Jungeun, which Jinsol returned. _

_ “Alright, buddy. See you on the flip side.” With that Jinsol dove over the edge of the boat and disappeared beneath the black mirror-like surface of the ocean. Jungeun watched her blonde head bob up and down for air until she was far enough that she couldn’t see her. _

_ It took a few minutes, but without the added weight the engine eventually came back to life. Jungeun could barely see by the dim moonlight, but thanks to her sense of direction, she was able to get herself back to the shore. She barely managed to drag herself and the bags out onto the wet sand before the shock and pain kicked in and she was knocked out like a light.  _

_ Minutes later, maybe hours, she woke, disoriented, to the feeling of the freezing waves lapping at her waist. She was so cold. Where was she? Everything was dark. Her leg hurt so bad, and her lungs did too. She was coughing, and salty water was coming up. It was so cold. She was cold. _

_ Jinsol? Where was Jinsol? She looked around, but she was alone. Jinsol? She called out, her voice getting increasingly shriller until it burned her throat. Her cries drew help, and suddenly there were figures gathered around her, talking in hushed tones, using words like drunk and ambulance and hypothermia. _

_ Jinsol, she repeated like a broken prayer, until the darkness engulfed her again.  _

Jungeun woke up with a scream ringing in her ears. It took her a few moments to realize it was her own voice. She tried to calm herself down, but her body seemed to be convinced that it was back on the beach that night, shivering with cold and fear.

She wrapped herself in blankets, knowing it wouldn’t ease the freezing sensation. That was the most vivid dream she’d had in a while. Usually it was just snippets, but it always ended with her on that goddamn beach.

She should be grateful, at least, that she never dreamed about anything further than that. The actual incident was traumatic enough, but the aftermath was undeniably worse. She had awoken in a hospital being treated for her broken leg and mild hypothermia. Some kind strangers had found her and called an ambulance, but no one had seen any sign of the boat, the bags, or Jinsol.

The two days the doctors forced Jungeun to spend in the hospital were the longest of her life. The only reason she didn’t go completely insane was because there was a part of her holding onto the hope that she would go home and Jinsol would just be sitting in front of the TV, eating noodles even though she knew Jungeun hated food on the couch.  _ Took you long enough!  _ she’d say, and Jungeun would curl up beside her and forget this nightmare ever happened.

Of course, that’s not what happened. The house was empty, stiflingly silent. For weeks Jungeun camped out at the beach, trolled through hospital records and obituaries, reached out to every one of Jinsol’s contacts. She never got a single lead. Eventually, the pain of floating around in their shared apartment became too much, and she left. That led her to where she was now, still alone, still haunted.

It was the uncertainty that kept eating at her. There was no closure, no funeral; after all, there was nothing to bury. Jungeun had no idea whether Jinsol was lying on the ocean floor, turning into fish food, or if she had been rescued by pirates from a foreign land, or if she was still out there, swimming … there was no way of knowing, and it drove Jungeun crazy wondering if she’d ever find out what happened to her best friend.

Once she felt her breathing slow down and her body return to a normal temperature, she exited the blanket cocoon and looked at her clock. The glowing numbers told her it was close to 2 am. Usually after one of  _ those  _ dreams she would spend the night awake, agonizing and torturing herself. She was so tired of that cycle, though, and she was determined to break it.

Still, she knew she would never be able to get back to sleep. Maybe she should talk to someone. Choerry was definitely asleep, though, and Jungeun didn’t have the heart to wake her. Jungeun’s thoughts drifted to the new cell phone that was lying on her desk. Ms. Wong had one delivered to each of them, with each others’ contacts already programmed into it. 

She didn’t care enough about Chuu to feel guilty waking her, and the girl was good at being talkative and distracting. It was Jungeun’s best option, so she went ahead and dialed the number.

After several rings, Chuu picked up. “Do you know what fucking time it is?” she said, her voice husky with sleep.

“Well, you burst into my house unannounced the other day,” Jungeun said defensively.

“I guess I did. Okay, what do you want?”

Jungeun bit her lip. She hadn’t planned this far ahead. “Uh. I was thinking about what you said about us spending more time together, so. Um. Do you wanna hang out?”

“You couldn’t call me for that in the daytime like a normal person?” Chuu said tiredly.

“I just… I can’t sleep.”

Chuu paused, and at first Jungeun thought she had had enough and hung up, but then she spoke softly. “Nightmares?”

“Never mind. You can go back to sleep,” Jungeun said, feeling extremely stupid.

“No, I’m already up. I might as well,” Chuu sighed. “I’ll be there in twenty.” She hung up for real then, and Jungeun put her phone down, feeling strange, but better. She didn’t know what to expect, but sure enough, soon she heard a familiar knocking at her door before Chuu walked in without waiting.

“I’m not even going to mention how stupid it is that your door is unlocked,” she grumbled, shutting it behind her. She was dressed in grey sweats and an oversized flannel, and looked like she was still half-asleep. She was also carrying a brown bag.

Jungeun perked up. “Is that alcohol?”

“No, you deviant,” Chuu scoffed, pulling out a box of dark red hair dye. “You gave me the idea. You can never change it up too much, right? And since you dragged me here in the dead of night, I’ll do it in your bathroom so you’ll have to clean up the mess.”

Jungeun felt a surge of gratitude. “Thanks,” was all she could manage to say. She didn’t trust herself not to get teary-eyed. It was just … really nice, to have somebody be there for her.

“You can thank me by helping out, I brought two pairs of gloves. Now go put on some clothes you don’t care about, cause they’re gonna get splattered,” Chuu ordered, heading to the bathroom. Jungeun followed her orders, picking out the rattiest shirt she owned. She was so starved for human interaction that even Chuu’s presence was helping her feel better.

With a lot of swearing and only minor spillage, they managed to dye Chuu’s hair successfully. By the time Jungeun helped her rinse it off, they were both stained, soaked, and exhausted.

“I refuse to go back home with my hair wet, so I’m gonna sleep here,” Chuu said.

“Oh, sure thing, you can stay, thanks for asking,” Jungeun said sarcastically. “Besides, I don’t have a couch so I hope you enjoy the floor.”

“Ha! Good one. You forced me to come here, I’m taking the bed.”

“I didn’t force you to do anything! Plus, sleeping on hard surfaces is good for your back.”

“So why don’t you take it, then?” Chuu’s eyes began to glimmer, and Jungeun didn’t like that look at all. She continued, “or we could both take the bed. It’s a bit small, but we should probably get used to sleeping beside each other, right, wifey?”

“Actually, the floor sounds incredible right about now,” Jungeun said, storming out of the bedroom to the sound of Chuu’s laughter. The funny thing was, though, she was actually able to get back to sleep, even with the uncomfortable floor and the light sound of Chuu’s snoring. This time, there were no dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D pls feel free to leave a comment or a cc letting me know how u like it so far !! 
> 
> twt: @oddeyejinsol  
> cc: curiouscat.me/oddeyejinsol


	4. ocean eyes

Jungeun tapped her foot impatiently, leaning against the cab. She was waiting underneath Chuu’s apartment as the girl brought down her luggage. It was uncomfortably hot, the cab had already started running their bill, and she was already annoyed.

Finally Chuu came out of the door dragging a large cream-colored suitcase behind her. Jungeun intercepted it and helped her lift it into the back of the cab. “Please tell me this is the last one,” Jungeun grunted, not expecting how heavy it was.

“Nope,” Chuu said cheerfully, dusting her hands off. “Just a couple more, promise.”

“How much stuff do you even need?” Jungeun exclaimed. “You know, this would go a whole lot easier if you’d just let me come up and help.”

“Yeah, no way you’re seeing the inside of my place,” Chuu said, already heading back into the building.

“But you’ve seen mine!”

“Your problem!” Chuu sang, disappearing through the door. Jungeun kicked the side of the cab in frustration, earning her a dirty look from the driver. Although she’d quit smoking (involuntarily; she was too depressed after Jinsol’s death to do anything that brought her joy), she would have killed someone for a cigarette at that moment. Preferably Chuu.

Finally Chuu brought down the last of their bags and they piled into the cab, which began driving them to their destination. Chuu pressed the button to roll up the partition, and once she was sure the cabbie couldn’t hear them, she began grilling Jungeun.

“Okay, lightning round! What’s Chuu’s favorite color, ring size, and number of siblings?”

“Peach, 6.5, and trick question, Chuu is an only child,” Jungeun recited. “Okay, my turn. What’s Kimberly’s favorite movie, food allergy, and the name of her childhood dog?”

“What the hell? Okay,  _ Breakfast at Tiffany’s _ , shellfish, and … crap, Skippy?”

“Skipper,” Jungeun corrected, “but close enough.”

“Dammit,” Chuu muttered. “Whatever, it’s not like Go Won’s gonna be interested in our pets. We’re well prepared. Right?”

“Right,” confirmed Jungeun, but she was just as nervous as Chuu looked. The assignment itself was daunting enough, easily ranking as the hardest mission Jungeun had ever done, and there was also the added pressure of this being her first case in a year. What if she was rusty? What if she froze in the field? What if she made the wrong choice again and someone got hurt?

“Stop overthinking,” Chuu said.  _ Damn, how did she know?  _ She continued, “you know very well the worst thing you can do is psych yourself out before you even begin, so just relax. Think about something else. Tell me our wedding story again?”

Jungeun did as she was told, rattling off details about flower arrangements and appetizers. She was glad she had someone to help her get out of her own head. When it came down to it, she  _ was  _ ready. She had spent every waking moment of the last two weeks preparing, with and without Chuu, and she was confident about her acting abilities at least. Her agent abilities? She’d have to wait and see how that went.

It wasn’t long before the cab came to a stop. Jungeun looked out of the window and instantly felt her stomach roll. She could see the dock, and the huge cruise ship gleaming in the sun, and the ocean. The ocean, spreading into the horizon like a blue carpet, gentle waves breaking the otherwise still surface. She felt every muscle in her body screaming at her in panic.

_ Calm down _ , she told herself, shutting her eyes. She couldn’t start freaking out before even setting foot on the boat. Oh god, the boat. She was literally going to be on a boat for weeks, in the middle of that endless ocean. 

She didn’t even realize she was hyperventilating until she felt a warm hand on her back. “Kim,” Chuu’s worried voice reached her ears, sounded distorted, and she opened her eyes to see the girl looking at her in worry. “Are you okay?”

She absolutely wasn’t, but she gulped in air and forced steady inhales and exhales until her breathing evened out. “I’m fine,” she said. Or at least, she would be. There was no turning back now, and even if she wanted to, she couldn’t. This mission wasn’t just for her, or Ms. Wong, or the countless people she would be avenging by capturing Go Won. This was for Jinsol, above anything else. 

“Let’s go,” she said before she could talk herself out of it, and stepped outside the cab onto shaky legs. The air was salty and fresh, and actually helped cool her head. She focused on methodically unloading their luggage from the trunk as Chuu paid the driver. He drove off, leaving the two standing side by side amidst their pile of suitcases, most of which were Chuu’s.

Chuu grabbed two cases and got going, leaving the rest for Jungeun to struggle with. They stood in line to the entrance of the boat, surreptitiously checking out the other passengers. They were all couples, some with children, all dressed for vacation and looking excited. Ms. Wong was right; this wasn’t the type of place you would expect to find a dangerous criminal doing a drug deal.

“What do you even have in here?” Jungeun huffed, struggling to balance with a huge backpack strapped to her. 

“First aid kit, hairdryer, chloroform, snacks, my guitar…” Chuu trailed off when she saw the look on Jungeun’s face. “Right, you didn’t actually want to know.”

“Nope,” Jungeun said. Her stomach was still flipping at the sight of the ocean, so she distracted herself by going over her character file until they reached the front of the line. Thankfully, a porter appeared to take their bags to their room, and they presented their tickets and passports.

Jungeun felt that familiar rush of adrenaline as the man studied their paperwork. This was what had drawn her to this line of work in the first place, that delicious endorphin boost when you got away with doing something you shouldn’t be doing. 

“Alright, enjoy your cruise, Mrs. and Mrs. Wong,” he said, handing their things back. The girls exchanged a furtive smile, Jungeun having forgotten her fears. Of course they knew it would work, but still. It was like the feeling you got when you snuck into a club in high school, only a million times better. Jungeun was beginning to remember how good it felt to work. 

She still felt lightheaded as she stepped aboard the boat, but was distracted when Chuu suddenly grabbed her hand. Her first instinct was to pull it away — she wasn’t a touchy person at all — but she remembered that they were supposedly married, so she left her hand where it was. She busied herself by looking around the inside of the ship. It was undeniably beautiful, with glimmering chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and spiral staircases with velvet carpeting.

“I’ll go get our keys,” Chuu said, heading towards the front desk. Jungeun took the opportunity to sit down for a moment. Now that she was aboard, she didn’t feel as terrified.  _ This is a nice, classy boat _ , she reassured herself.  _ There won’t be any drunk socialites setting fire to shit. You’re not gonna die. _

“Okay, we’re room 9,” Chuu announced, bounding back with the keys. They climbed up the stairs to their room, silently admiring the interior design of the ship. When they entered the room, the early sunlight was streaming brightly through the window, and their luggage had already been placed at the foot of their bed. Bed. Singular.

“There’s … only one bed,” Jungeun said slowly. Chuu shrugged and kicked the door shut.

“Yeah, no shit. If we’re already sleeping apart on our honeymoon, our marriage is doomed, don’t you think?” She sat down on the queen-sized bed, bouncing experimentally. “Oh, this is so soft! I’m going to sleep like a baby for sure.”

“One bed,” Jungeun repeated.

Chuu rolled her eyes, unzipping one of her bags and beginning to hunt inside it for something. “What, do you want me to say no homo before bed?”

“I’m literally gay,” Jungeun deadpanned. Chuu froze, eyes widening.

“Oh— sorry, I, um…”

“It’s fine,” Jungeun said dismissively. “I’m just not used to sharing my bed with strangers. Or with anyone, really.”

“Yeah…” Chuu pulled out the granola bar that she had been looking for and stuffed it in her mouth to stop herself from babbling nervously.

Oblivious to Chuu’s mini panic, Jungeun sat down beside her and began rooting around in her own bag, retrieving the case dossier. “So, what’s our plan of action?” she asked, rifling through the papers.

Chuu composed herself and dove back into her bag, coming up with the itinerary Ms. Wong had provided them. “Hmm...there’s nothing official happening on the ship itinerary until dinner, which is at 6 tonight. I guess we can do whatever we want till then.”

“Okay, we should probably scope out the ship, get a feel for directions,” Jungeun said. Since her sense of directions had been the only thing that had saved them last time (or at least, saved her), she obsessively memorized the floor plan of every place she visited.

Chuu nodded in agreement. “Affirmative. First, though, Ms. Wong told us to call her contact to confirm that we’re on board.”

“Use these, we don’t know how thick the walls are,” Jungeun said, handing her a pair of earphones. Chuu plugged them in, and each girl put in an earbud and waited as Chuu dialed the number.

“Hello?” a young-sounding voice answered.

“Yeojin?” Jungeun guessed.

The voice sighed tiredly. “God, she needs to stop giving out her real name … no I’m not Yeojin. You can call me Olivia. I’m guessing this is Kim and Chuu?”

“Reporting for duty!” Chuu said brightly, and Jungeun had to physically force her eyes not to roll. “We made it onto the cruise, now awaiting instructions.”

“Alright, it doesn’t look like Ms. Wong has any notes for you yet …” Olivia paused, and they heard papers ruffling. “Ah, we have received some new information, though. Go Won’s room number is 11. We’d like you to go in and bug it whenever you can.”

The girls exchanged shocked glances. Fuck, that was super close to their own room. Olivia continued, “We still don’t know her name or what she looks like, so keep an eye out for people going in and out of the room. If that fails, try and find passengers who stick out from the usual crowd. I don’t doubt you’ll be able to find her, but if you haven’t located her within a week, please report back.”

“Got it,” Jungeun confirmed, scribbling down  _ room 11  _ on the file. “Thanks, Olivia.”

“We’ll be in touch,” Olivia said, and then the line died. The girls removed their earphones and looked at each other again.

“She’s like, two doors away,” Chuu whispered, panicked. 

“Hey, that means we’re more likely to see her going in or out of the room, right?” Jungeun whispered back.

“Well, what are we gonna do? Camp out outside the door? Or just wait here till we hear a door open and come out? We can’t be suspicious at all, she’ll definitely notice us,” Chuu whispered back.

“Okay, enough.” Jungeun returned to her normal voice, maybe a little louder than necessary, and said, “Let’s just wait till dinner, okay, honey? It’ll be fun,  _ everyone  _ is going to be there.”

Chuu nodded, catching on quickly.  “Okay. Let’s go look around in the meantime, shall we?”

The girls spent the next few hours exploring the inside of the ship. It was truly huge; there was a dining room, a dance hall, a pool with a spa … Jungeun didn’t even want to imagine how much Vivi had paid for their tickets. They also came across a game room, which they got slightly too involved in. Chuu was scary when she was competitive, Jungeun learned. Watching the girl almost knock over the claw-machine game when she lost, Jungeun could begin to imagine what she’d be like in a fight. 

Dinnertime rolled around faster than they expected, and they headed to the dining hall as instructed by the itinerary. It was a gigantic room with wooden tables and one of the most intricate buffets Jungeun had ever seen. Chuu made a direct beeline for the food, and Jungeun followed her. Although she was hungry, still felt a bit too on edge to eat that much. Chuu, on the other hand, was balancing 3 plates stacked mountain-high with food as they walked back to the table. Maybe that was why she had so much goddamn energy all the time.

“I think I’m in heaven,” Chuu sighed as they made their way over to a table in a more secluded area of the hall. “Do they do this for all the meals?! Because I might just spend our whole honeymoon in here.”

Right. They were  _ married _ , and there were people around. Might as well have some fun with it. “Well if that happens I guess I’ll just have to drag you back to bed,” Jungeun replied, making Chuu’s eyes widen.

“There are kids here!” she squeaked, flustered. Jungeun just smirked and speared a piece of broccoli on her fork. The two sat in relative silence, both of them silently scoping out the room. It was too big and there was too much activity for them to get a real read on anybody, but it was definitely going to be hard to spot Go Won without even knowing what she looked like. Jungeun was determined, though.

“I’m gonna go for another  _ look around _ ...at the food,” she said, and when Chuu nodded and winked to confirm that the message was received, she went back to roving around the room, abandoning her half-eaten plate on the table. 

Even just walking around, she could feel herself getting her mojo back. Her instincts kicked in as she made herself as nondescript as possible, weaving in and out of the tables like she was invisible. She spotted several young-ish women that could have been Go Won, but several of them weren’t actually alone, just waiting for their families. It was difficult; on one hand, everybody being in the same room was an advantage because it meant Go Won had to be there, but it was a disadvantage because it was so much harder to find her. It was like a fatal game of guess who.

On Jungeun’s second lap of the room, her sharp eyes spotted one of the hotel staff, his master card key hanging out of his pocket. She walked by and slipped it out of his pocket into her own, quick as a whip. Satisfied with having something to show for her efforts, she decided to visit the bar on the far end of the room and order drinks.

“Two vodka crans, please,” she said to the bartender. She wasn’t sure what Chuu liked to drink, so she went for a safe option. That was really something she should probably know, though, especially since she planned on drinking quite a lot on this trip.

“Aw, I was kinda hoping you were here alone,” she heard a high-pitched voice say. She looked over to see a girl sitting two seats down from her, sipping on a martini. She looked like a doll, with glossy blonde hair and an angelic face.

Jungeun was mad as hell. A pretty girl was flirting with her, and she couldn’t even reciprocate because of her imaginary ball and chain. “I’m here with my wife,” she said apologetically. “What about you? You’re not here with someone?”

“Nope. I’m all on my lonesome,” the girl pouted. Jungeun’s smile froze on her face as she began to realize the implications of what the girl was saying. She continued, “I’m Chae,” reaching out a hand. When Jungeun accepted the handshake, her heart nearly stopped.

On the inside of the girl’s wrist was a delicate tattoo of a monarch butterfly.

“I’m Kimberly,” she said, trying to hide the excitement in her voice. Olivia had given them a week to catch Go Won, and here Jungeun was making direct personal contact with her by the end of the first night. Choerry was right. She was a fucking amazing spy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> real plot starts to kick in next chapter yall!! as always lmk your thoughts! hehe  
> twt: @oddeyejinsol  
> cc: curiouscat.me/oddeyejinsol


	5. trouble

If you’d told Jungeun a year ago that she would go back to spy work, she would have laughed. If you’d told her she was going to be having drinks with Go fucking Won, she would have questioned your sanity. And yet, here she was, finished with her first drink and starting on the one meant for Chuu, making conversation with the blonde.

“So...why are you here alone? Not to be invasive, but it  _ is _ a couples’ cruise,” Jungeun asked.

Go Won -  _ Chae?  _ \- gave her a mysterious smile. “Good question. I actually was in a couple, and we booked this trip together, but it didn’t end well. I already paid for the ticket, so.” She shrugged and signaled for another drink.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Jungeun said instinctively. Damn, she was a good liar. Jungeun knew that was a complete lie, and yet the girl’s sad expression had still sparked some sympathy deep inside her.

“That’s okay. Shit happens, right?” Her smile turned wolfish. “You know, 50% of marriages end in divorce, so if you think things are gonna go sour between you and your wife, you might as well give up and run away with me now.”

Jungeun laughed to mask the shiver that ran down her spine. Chae was being perfectly nice, flirtatious even, but she had such a sinister aura. “I’m flattered, but no thanks,” she said. “My wife and I are doing great. I mean, we’re on our honeymoon, so nothing has really had any time to go wrong.”

“It always does, trust me,” Chae said, knocking back the rest of her drink. “Well, I’m gonna head to bed, I think. If you change your mind, I’m in room 11.” With a wink, she disappeared into the crowd of people. Jungeun watched her retreating figure, thinking,  _ I already knew that. _

She finished her drink and ordered another two, and then made her way back to the table. Chuu had moved onto her fourth plate of food, barely even looking up as Jungeun sat down.

“Jeez, took you long enough! You better have got her full name and address,” she said, grabbing the drink from Jungeun. 

“Not quite, but I did just have a full conversation with her,” Jungeun whispered. Chuu’s head snapped up, and she struggled to swallow her huge mouthful of food.

“ _ What?  _ Are you s--”

“Not here,” Jungeun said, shaking her head. Chuu nodded, and urgently got up to dispose of her plates. The girls speedwalked back to their room in silence, and when they reached the room, Chuu unzipped one of her many bags and poked around until she found what she was looking for.

“Acoustic panels,” she explained, as she pasted what appeared to be large hexagonal stickers all across the walls. “They absorb the sound and block it from leaving the room. No one will be able to hear us even if they’ve got their ears pressed up to the door.”

Jungeun shook her head in amazement. “First the bow-and-arrow in a pill capsule and now this? Have I really been out of the game for so long?”

“Here, help me out,” Chuu ordered, giving Jungeun a pile of her own to plaster. “No, this is really high tech tuff, not even available on the market yet. I just have a friend who gives me her prototypes to test out. Does the name Aeongie ring a bell?”

Jungeun laughed aloud. “Does it? I worked with her on the Jeon case, helped her develop that computer program that managed to trace the kidnapped heiress. She’s kind of crazy, but she was fun.”

“Yeah, she’s a blast,” Chuu said fondly. “Did you know she and the heiress started dating afterwards? Heejin? They’re still together.”

“No way!” Jungeun gasped. “Oh, this is some juicy shit. I missed spy gossip.”

Chuu grinned. “Okay, I think this is as soundproof as it gets. Tell me everything now before I lose my mind."

Jungeun sat on the bed, and Chuu followed. “I was getting us drinks and she started hitting on me out of nowhere. I didn’t get a lot of information out of her, but she introduced herself as Chae.” Chuu gasped dramatically.

“ _ Chae _ . What did she look like?” she asked breathlessly.

“She looked really young. Like, considering how long she’s been in the game, she probably started crime in her early teens. She’s blonde, and she has a butterfly tattoo on her wrist,” Jungeun said. Chuu had grabbed a pen and paper and was writing all of this down.

“Shit, so while I was failing math she was literally committing grand larceny. Can you do a drawing of her?” Chuu asked, giving the pen and paper to Jungeun, who raised her eyebrows.

“Is that really necessary? I’m sure you’ll see her at some point ,” Jungeun said.

“Yeah, but we have to report back to Vivi and I wanna give her as much information as possible,” Chuu insisted, forcing the pen and paper into Jungeun’s lap. Jungeun sighed audibly but did her best to draw while Chuu dialed the number, putting the phone on speaker this time.

“Kim, Chuu,” Olivia’s voice greeted them. “Bad news so soon?”

“Excellent news! We found Go Won,” Chuu said, and after Jungeun elbowed her, “okay fine, Kim found her.”

They could hear Olivia suck in a breath. “Oh my … did you learn anything about her? How did you know it was her? Any bona fides?”

Jungeun grabbed the phone from Chuu, who let it go without dissent. “Kim speaking. No BFs, it was just a brush pass. I’m certain it was her, though. She had a butterfly tattoo, which I think speaks for itself. Also, she fits the profile - young, single, kind of out of place. She said her name was Chae, and she’s blonde with brown eyes, about 157 cm.”

Olivia was silent for a good while, the sounds of a pen scratching paper coming over the line. “Thank you, Kim. I’ll get this information to Vivi as soon as possible and report back.”

“Do you need a drawing of her?” Chuu blurted.

“That...won’t be needed,” said Olivia, before abruptly hanging up. Jungeun coughed, “told you.”

Chuu lay down on the bed. “Okay, what now?”

“We should try and bug her room as soon as possible. She confirmed to me that it was room 11, so I’m gonna hack into the security cam system so we can see when she leaves,” Jungeun explained, retrieving her trusty laptop and cracking her knuckles before beginning.

“How are we gonna get into her room, though? I brought a lockpick, but it’s one of those card readers,” Chuu mused.

Not even looking up from her keyboard, Jungeun pulled the master card out of her pocket. “Swiped it from one of the staff.”

Chuu gasped. “Holy crap, you’re actually good!”

“Don’t sound so surprised, please,” Jungeun muttered, only half invested in the conversation. The task at hand was absorbing her full focus, so they sat in silence until Jungeun put the laptop down with a satisfied sound.

“There we go,” she said, turning the screen towards Chuu, who could see the video feedback of their hall.

“So we just … watch it till something happens?” Chuu asked.

“I guess,” Jungeun said, flopping down on the bed beside Chuu, who was acutely aware of how close they were. “I really hate the stakeout part of things. It’s so boring.”

“Says the girl who just did nothing for the past year,” Chuu joked, instantly regretting it when she felt the other girl freeze beside her. “Shit, wait, that was insensitive, I’m s-”

“Don’t be,” Jungeun said abruptly. “I mean, you’re not wrong.” They lapsed back into awkward silence, until Chuu began speaking again.

“You know, I did lose a friend too…” she trailed off when Jungeun sat up suddenly and glared at her.

“Okay, no, we're not doing this. I’m not here for you to pity and share your sob stories with me,” she said sharply. “Frankly, I don’t give a fuck about your dead friend. You’re only telling me cause you want to know what happened with Betta. You can shove your fake sympathy up your ass.”

“Hey!” Chuu shouted, not knowing whether to feel guilty or affronted. “I was just trying to be  _ nice _ ! Not everyone’s out to get you, you know!”

“I don’t want you to be nice to me!” Jungeun snapped. “I want you to pay less attention to my tragic backstory and more attention to this fucking case so I can get it over with and go back to living in peace and quiet,  _ alone _ !”

Chuu was about to snap back, but a glimpse of movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention. “Hey, she’s leaving!” she exclaimed, pointing at the screen. Argument forgotten, Jungeun was instantly trained on the video feed, both pairs of eyes glued to the screen as they watched Go Won exit the room.

“Move,” Jungeun ordered, shoving Chuu out of the way and inputting some commands into the computer. The screens multiplied so that they could see all the security camera feeds. With bated breath, they watched as the girl strolled down the hallways, her final destination being a balcony on the second floor. When they saw her sit down in one of the chairs, Jungeun sprang up.

“I’m gonna go keep an eye on her,” she said. “Take the keycard and go bug her room, and text me when you’re done and it’s safe to come back.”

“Okay,” Chuu said, the adrenaline in her veins not quite covering up the guilt she was still feeling. “Hey, Kim-”

“Don’t,” Jungeun said, leaving and shutting the door firmly behind her. She tried her best to clear her head as she traced Go Won’s footsteps. This was exactly why she didn’t bother talking to people anymore. They tiptoed around her like she was going to break at any minute. Even though she kind of did feel that way sometimes, it didn’t feel good to have other people treat her like that. She wasn’t some fragile child, she was a grown woman.

She was so deep in her thoughts that she barely realized when she arrived at the balcony where Chae was. She was still sitting in that chair, her back to Jungeun, looking out over the ocean. She probably could have just stayed hidden in the shadow of the hall, but for some reason, she decided to go join her. Chae turned sharply when she heard Jungeun slide the door open, and grinned when she saw the girl. 

“Oops. You caught me,” she said silkily. Jungeun freaked out for a moment -  _ does she know why I’m here?  _ \- but then Chae motioned with her hand, and Jungeun saw that she was holding a thick blunt, smoke seeping from the end.

“I won’t tell if you don’t. May I?” she said, gesturing to the seat beside the blonde. 

“Of course,” Chae said, passing the blunt to Jungeun as she sat down. She should probably be sober for this, but her most important goal was to gain Chae’s trust, so she took a hit, trying not to cough when her lungs rebelled.

“Be honest. Are you following me?” Chae giggled, causing Jungeun to choke on her inhale. As she spluttered, the girl smirked, “kidding. If you were, you would have just come straight to my room like I told you, right?”

Jungeun passed the blunt back, feeling slightly lightheaded. Damn, it had been a while. “Yeah, not following you, I promise. I just needed to clear my head and get some air, I guess.”

Chae’s analytical eyes observed Jungeun’s face. “Trouble in paradise?”

It took Jungeun a moment for her to register what she meant.  _ Right, I’m on my honeymoon. Crap, I’m high already _ . “Honestly, yeah,” she admitted.

Chae made a sympathetic noise and patted Jungeun’s hand. It took everything Jungeun had not to flinch away. Her skin was cold, like a corpse. “You wanna tell me all about it?” she said.

Well, Jungeun did need to stall her until Chuu was done… “She just gets on my nerves sometimes,” she said, not untruthfully. “We’re just so different, it’s hard to have a conversation without clashing over something or the other. It’s tiring.”

“So why are you even married to her?” Chae asked, tilting her head.  _ Shit, right, I’m supposed to like her. \ _

“Well … I love her,” Jungeun said lamely. “We’ve been together since middle school and I just can’t imagine my life without her. I guess the fights just aren’t worth it in the end, but our love is.”  _ That was so fucking corny. _

“That’s sweet,” Chae said, but Jungeun could see that her eyes had glazed over with boredom. She took a final hit of the blunt before tossing the roach overboard. Jungeun knew that she was a murderous criminal but wow, littering in the ocean? Really?

“I guess I should head back,” Chae said, stretching her arms. Jungeun panicked. Fuck, Chuu hadn’t texted her yet. She needed to distract her somehow.

“Wait,” she blurted. Chae looked at her expectantly.  _ Wait, now I have to say something _ . “Um...do you have a cigarette? I could go for one right now.”

Chae looked at her in amusement and procured a pack of ultra-skinny menthols from her pocket. “Thanks,” Jungeun said, inhaling the minty smoke as Chae lit her up. “So, uh, what about your ex? Was that serious?”

Chae laughed. “Absolutely not. It was really more a fling. I’m married to my work.” Well, that was one way to put it.

“Right. What did you say you worked as again?” Jungeun said innocently.

Chae took the cigarette out of Jungeun’s mouth and pulled on it, exhaling a cloud of smoke into Jungeun’s face. “Hey, we’re on vacation. No shop talk, yeah?” Well, Jungeun didn’t really know what she expected her to say to that.

Her phone chimed, and she had to force herself to reach for it at a normal pace. It was a text from Chuu:  _ all clear! _

“I’m sorry, my wife’s wondering where I am,” Jungeun said apologetically, rising from her chair. Chae made no action to move, instead just looking her up and down and lighting another cigarette.

“Goodnight, Kimberly. I’ll see you around,” she said.

“You definitely will,” Jungeun responded, before turning on her heel and walking back inside. She waited till she was out of Chae’s sight before indulging in a mini celebratory dance. When she made it back into her room, Chuu was on the bed, hunched over her own laptop. She looked up abruptly when Jungeun entered, guilt washing over her face. “Hey…”

Jungeun walked over and sat down beside her. She was in such a good mood that she couldn’t even keep being mad at Chuu. “Did everything go okay?”

“No,” Chuu sighed, furrowing her brow. “I placed the cams and mikes, but I think she’s done something to her room somehow because I can’t get them to work. Maybe some kind of anti-interference technology, I don’t know.”

“Let me try,” Jungeun said, and Chuu handed her the laptop. Jungeun did her best, but could quickly see that it was no use. Go Won had definitely anti-bugged her room, because it was like trying to get through a solid steel wall.

“Yeah, I think it’s a no-go,” she said, passing the laptop back. “You tried, though.”

Chuu shrugged, and then sniffed, her nose wrinkling. “You smell terrible. Were you  _ smoking?  _ You know how bad that is for you, right?”

“Yes, I took eighth grade chemistry,” Jungeun said, feeling the annoyance begin to flare again. “I’m trying to get in with Go Won, I probably would have smoked crack if she asked me to.”

Chuu laughed despite herself. “I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised. How did that go, by the way? It wasn’t too awkward to try and keep her?”

“No, it was really easy,” Jungeun said, unable to keep the slight bragging tone out of her voice. “I think she likes me. I mean, she smoked me out. That’s nice, right?”

Chuu stared at her. “She’s a murderer.”

“And she’s our target, so I should continue getting close to her,” Jungeun countered. “In fact, you’re behind, so maybe you should catch up.” Chuu stuck her tongue out at her, and Jungeun returned the childish gesture before hopping into the shower.

The hot water relaxed her muscles, and she felt exhaustion settle in her bones. It had been an emotionally exciting and physically demanding day, and it felt like she was sore all over, but in the best way. She missed the satisfying ache after a long day of hard work. When she got back, she had to remind herself to give a huge thank you to Choerry for pushing her to take this job.

When she went back into the room, toweling her hair off, she was greeted by the sight of Chuu totally passed out on the bed, drooling slightly onto the pillow. Jungeun chuckled softly at the sight, but the smile was wiped off her face when she realized once again that she really had to share the bed with Chuu.

She turned the lights off and climbed in, pulling the blanket over both herself and Chuu, who made a sleepy noise and rolled over, pulling all the blankets off with her. Jungeun tried to tug them back, but they were firmly wrapped around Chuu, who was still sleeping like a rock. Still, she was so tired that she didn’t even care. She was out as soon as her head hit the pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> introducing gowon! it was so much fun to write her evil lmao. as always lmk your thoughts!!
> 
> twt: @oddeyejinsol  
> cc: curiouscat.me/oddeyejinsol


	6. kiss and not tell

Jungeun bolted upright in bed, woken from a troubled sleep. She couldn’t see anything, but even the darkness had a sense of unfamiliarity.  _ It’s just a dream _ , her sleep-addled brain tried to assure her, but over the pounding of her heart she began to hear the sound of crashing waves. Her body sprung into panic mode. She was pretty sure the waves were getting louder, the boat was rocking, was that the smell of smoke?...

She hadn’t realized she had been shaking violently until she felt surprisingly strong hands clamp onto her shoulders. “Hey, you’re just having a bad dream,” said a sleepy voice. It helped ground her, as well as the soothing rubbing of her shoulders; slowly the disorientation faded from her mind, she got control of her breathing and she remembered where she was and who she was with. The fear turned to embarrassment as she realized that Chuu had basically just coached her out of a panic attack.

Uncomfortable, she shrugged Chuu’s hands off and got out of the bed, still feeling a little wobbly, and pulled open the curtain. Dim moonlight streamed into the room, and she could see nothing but ocean all around on the outside. The surface of the water was smooth with no waves, though, and now that she had calmed down she realized that the smell of smoke was all in her head. She was safe.

“I’m sorry,” she said to Chuu, her voice as weak as she felt. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s fine. I’ll probably kick you awake at some point soon, so just consider it karma.” The redhead yawned and rubbed her eyes, blinking at Jungeun, who was still avoiding meeting her eyes. She wanted to ask if the brunette was okay, but she didn’t want to risk getting yelled at again, so she decided against it. Instead, she asked, “are you coming back to bed?”

Jungeun felt too antsy to even think about sleep, but she knew that Chuu would insist on staying up with her and she already felt bad about interrupting the girl’s sleep, so she just nodded and made her way back into bed, rolling onto her side facing away from Chuu. She could feel Chuu’s eyes on her for some time, but soon she heard the girl’s breaths grow steady and slow, punctuated with tiny snores every now and then.

The rhythmic breathing must have relaxed her back into sleep, because next thing she knew she was blinking in the harsh sunlight that was now streaming in through the open curtain. The bed was empty, and she could hear the shower running and the sound of Chuu’s whistling. 

Heat rushed to her face as she remembered the events of the last night. She had just been yelling at Chuu for treating her like she was fragile, and here she was waking up with night terrors about something that had happened a year ago. Just perfect. That  _definitely_ didn't make her looked totally unhinged.

Jungeun’s thoughts were interrupted by the bathroom door opening. Steam rushed out in billowing clouds, and Chuu walked out as well, still humming. She was wrapped in a fluffy white towel, her wet hair plastered to her head. Jungeun momentarily forgot what she had even been thinking about, suddenly focused on the droplets of water rolling across Chuu’s collarbones.

Chuu’s eyes widened when she saw Jungeun was awake. “Oh! Good morning! I was gonna go change…” she nodded towards a pile of clothes folded on the chair.

“Go for it,” Jungeun muttered, rolling over. She trained her eyes resolutely on the wall and tried her best to ignore the shuffling sounds of Chuu getting dressed. Clearly her senses hadn’t quite recovered yet.

“Okay, I’m decent,” Chuu chuckled nervously, and Jungeun sat back up. Chuu was wearing an obnoxious Hawaiian-print shirt tucked into white button-up shorts, paired with a straw hat. Jungeun couldn’t contain a snort. “Did you just google  _ vacation outfits _ , or?”

“No! I have a well-curated Pinterest board, thank you very much,” Chuu said, smoothing down the front of her shirt. “Um, are you gonna get ready too? Breakfast is over in an hour.”

“Yeah, I’ll come down in a second, just … can I have a minute to myself?” Jungeun asked. Chuu didn’t look too impressed, but just nodded and left the room, leaving Jungeun to herself. The girl deflated slightly, feeling some of the tension leave her body.

It wasn’t Chuu’s fault, she knew the girl was just trying to be nice. Jungeun just hated being vulnerable in front of others. She knew she came across difficult and cold, and she didn’t mind that at all. When people couldn’t figure her out, they usually left her alone. Unfortunately, being forced to live in close quarters meant that Chuu would inevitably see her in … less-than-desirable situations. She just had to suck it up and deal with it, and fervently pray the girl wouldn’t try to have another heart-to-heart. Jungeun didn’t do feelings very well. 

Eventually she forced herself out of bed, the promise of coffee more enticing than the feeling of wanting to bury her head under the pillow and never look Chuu in the eye again. She tried her best to match her outfit to Chuu’s - although there wasn’t a lot that worked well with that monstrosity of a shirt - and made her way to the dining hall.

At least the bright outfit made Chuu very easy to spot. She was so focused on her food that she didn’t realize Jungeun was approaching until she actually sat down in front of her.

“I cannot believe you have all that food and not a single nutritious item,” Jungeun remarked, staring at the plate piled high with croissants and various breakfast pastries.

“Oh, cause your breakfast is the epitome of health?” Chuu asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Touche,” Jungeun said, sipping at her steaming cup of black coffee. She was still feeling weird and didn’t know if she could really stomach anything at the moment. The caffeine, at least, was helping her feel more awake and alive. 

“So, what’s on the schedule for today?” Jungeun asked. Chuu paused her eating to pull a folded itinerary out of her pocket. 

“Hmm…” her finger traced the paper. “Ooh, we can go on the sundeck after breakfast! Then there’s a scavenger hunt this afternoon. The winner gets a prize!”

Jungeun winced. “A scavenger hunt? What is this, middle school sports day? I’ll pass.”

“No, you won’t,” Chuu said sternly. “We’re on  _ vacation  _ on our  _ honeymoon _ , so we’re going to have fun and blend in.”

“Or you could go have fun, and I could have another go at bugging the room,” Jungeun suggested, lowering her voice as a family bustled past them.

Chuu sighed. “I know you had a lot of interaction with the target yesterday, but we need to slow down. We can’t give her any reason at all to be suspicious of us, and  _ coincidentally  _ being around her all the time is definitely suspicious behavior. The question is ‘what would a normal couple do on this trip?’, and the answer is go enjoy the sun and the stupid scavenger hunt, so that’s what we’re doing.” Satisfied with her speech, she speared another bite of eclair. 

Jungeun pouted slightly. She had definitely missed the fun parts of being a spy. The waiting? Not so much.

* * *

Jungeun’s nose crinkled with distaste as she and Chuu stepped out onto the sundeck. This was clearly where all the couples came to dump their children while they relaxed in the sun. There were screaming toddlers running around everywhere and unappealing oiled-up old people snoozing in the deck chairs. This was absolutely not how she wanted to spend her morning.

“Ooh, here’s a spot, honey,” Chuu said brightly, running over to one of the umbrellas and spreading her towel in front of it. Jungeun followed reluctantly, hoping her sunglasses were masking her annoyance. She sat down and was about to begin reading the book she had brought with her, but was distracted by Chuu beginning to unbutton her shirt.

Oblivious to Jungeun’s stares, Chuu continued to undress until she was standing in just her bathing suit.  _ Oh, makes sense, we are on a boat _ , Jungeun thought stupidly, her eyes roaming of their own accord. It was easy to forget how strong Chuu was because of her tiny frame, but now with her toned arms and muscular thighs gleaming in the sunlight, it was quite impossible for Jungeun to forget. In fact, it was proving difficult to think of anything else.

“Didn’t you bring your swimsuit?” Chuu’s voice snapped Jungeun back to reality, and she averted her eyes in guilt.

“No, I forgot,” she said, hoping Chuu wouldn’t take notice of the blush that was definitely heating up her face.

Chuu shrugged. “Okay, your loss.” She then began to apply sunblock, and Jungeun tried her very best to focus on her book, but it was just really hard when Chuu was humming innocently as she rubbed herself up and down. Jungeun was silently hoping the other girl wouldn’t notice that she had been re-reading the same sentence for the last three minutes.

“Do you mind getting my back, sweetie?” Chuu asked, innocently handing Jungeun the sunblock and turning around. Jungeun gulped. The swimsuit was cut low in the back, stopping just above her tailbone, and Jungeun could clearly see the flex of her back muscles with every move she made.

“Uh, sure,  _ honey _ ,” she said, applying the lotion to her palms and beginning to cover Chuu’s back with it, feeling sparks shoot up her fingertips when she made contact with the smooth skin. She couldn’t believe she was getting this worked up over  _ Chuu _ , for fuck’s sake. It really had been a while since she’d had any sort of intimate contact, and it was clearly showing.

“All done,” she said, her voice a little higher-pitched than she’d like as she handed the bottle back. Chuu smiled in thanks and lay down on her towel, plugging in her earphones and closing her eyes, relaxing under the sunrays.

Jungeun tore her eyes away from the girl and forced them back to focusing on her book. It took her a couple minutes to properly clear her head, but soon she was reading avidly, getting sucked into the story. Reading helped occupy her always-overworking mind, but it had been a while since she simply had the time to sit down and read. If there was one upside about all this waiting, it was that she was actually getting some vacation time in. 

Being herself, though, actually relaxing made Jungeun feel antsy, so she took breaks every now and then to scope out the surroundings and make herself feel like she was actually doing something. She couldn’t help but wonder, as she inspected all the couples and families basking in the sun, which one of these people was the person with whom Go Won was going to make the drug deal? Despite her efforts, she hadn’t seen anybody suspicious-looking yet. Either she just hadn’t come across them yet, or they were much better at disguise than she expected.

_ Then again _ , she countered to herself,  _ Chuu and I wouldn’t look suspicious to anyone else, either.  _ She was reminded again of what Chuu had told her the day they first met, about underestimating other agents. The girl was right; there was no such thing as being too careful, especially when they were dealing with the unknown. 

Chuu, meanwhile, seemed completely immersed in her sunbathing, sometimes humming quietly to the music in her earphones and flipping over every now and then to get an even tan. Thankfully she had her eyes closed, seemingly snoozing; otherwise Jungeun probably would have been caught staring several times. She couldn’t help it - the girl was attractive, and now that she’d started thinking about that fact, she couldn’t seem to get herself to stop.

Although Jungeun had prepared herself for endless hours of boredom, it really wasn’t very long before Chuu checked her phone and announced, “alright, the scavenger hunt starts in ten minutes, let’s go!” Jungeun picked up their towels and stood awkwardly to the side as Chuu re-dressed, thankful at least that her eyes would have less places to linger. By the time they made it back to the main hall, there was already a small crowd congregated in anticipation of the hunt.

The girls each grabbed a scavenger map and took their seats as the ship captain explained the rules of the hunt, to which Jungeun was honestly not paying attention. She was on high alert, scanning the room and training her eyes on the door to try and spot Go Won. There was no sight of her, though, which wasn’t too surprising. Why should a millionaire criminal participate in such a childish game? She was probably getting high. Jungeun was jealous. 

“Alright, happy hunting! And remember, the winners get a complimentary spa package, so good luck to everyone!” the captain finished jovially, which everyone took as a cue to start moving. Chuu was already puzzling over her map. 

“Okay, it’s a map of the boat and then it says ‘I am red, white, and blue, when the wind blows I wave for you’... oh, it must be the flag on the front deck!” Chuu sprang to her feet and started speedwalking with a purpose. “This is too easy!”

“Yeah, cause it’s most likely designed for families with kids,” Jungeun pointed out, having to run a little to keep up with Chuu. “Can we slow down, The Flash? If you wanna win that spa package so bad I’ll buy it for you, just don’t make me run.”

“I’m a  _ very _ competitive person,” Chuu said matter-of-factly, breaking into a jog when she walked out onto the deck. “Oh, look! It’s a poster on the flagpole … ‘you come here three times a day, there’s nothing like a good buffet’... Ugh, that’s corny. To the dining hall!”

The next few clues continued in similar fashion, until Jungeun was so bored she pretended to need the bathroom just so that she wouldn’t have to hear Chuu read one more of those stupid riddles out loud again. The problem was, though, she hadn’t kept track of what floor they were on, and they quickly realized they were lost.

“Come  _ on _ , there has to be a bathroom somewhere here, we’re losing time!” Chuu grumbled, jogging to keep up with Jungeun who was the one now walking swiftly. Jungeun didn’t reply. She was beginning to freak herself out.  _ I’m already getting lost? What am I gonna do if I’m in another … situation, and I can’t get myself out? _

A glimpse of a blonde head in front of her made her stop short, her heart thudding. She quickly realized it was an optical illusion; there was a mirror at the intersection of the hallway, so she could see down the next hall, where Chae was standing, on the phone with her back turned. With the angle of the mirror, she wouldn’t be able to see them.

Jungeun held her arm out to stop Chuu, holding a finger to her lips. Chuu picked up on the sudden urgency and followed Jungeun’s line of sight, her eyes widening with understanding as she saw what Jungeun saw. Quickly, she pulled out what looked like two small earpods, and when she pressed them they lit up with a yellow light. Chuu put one of them into her ear, and Jungeun followed suit. Instantly, her hearing sharpened and magnified, and she was able to hear Chae’s voice as if the girl was standing two feet away. 

“...okay so far, the food’s not great though,” her lilting voice faded in. “Although, there are still eleven more stops on this cruise, and I’d like to know which one you’re getting on at. I do have business to attend to at home, you know. I don’t like to be kept waiting.”

There was a pause. Jungeun wished she could hear what the other person was saying, but unfortunately even Aeongie’s technology wasn’t that advanced. Then, Chae said, “Hmm. Yes, I understand very well that work calls sometimes. Well, I guess I’ll just sit back and relax till then. Call me tomorrow, alright?”

Jungeun was so engrossed in the conversation that her brain didn’t register the sound of the approaching footsteps until Chae was already halfway down the hall. She backed up quickly and bumped into Chuu, who was probably coming to the same realization, if her panicked expression was anything to go by. Jungeun was just about to make a mad dash for it when Chuu suddenly pulled her close into a bruising kiss. 

Jungeun let out a muffled squeak, but Chuu was determined, pressing herself back against the wall and tugging Jungeun against her. Realizing that Chae was about to turn the corner, Jungeun’s body snapped into action to try and make the kiss look more believable. With one hand she cupped Chuu’s head, the other pressing against the small of her back, and she threw herself fully into the kiss. 

“Oh— excuse me,” Chae giggled softly, and the girls sprung apart, both of them not having to fake the blushes on their cheeks.  She was standing near them, smiling curiously.

“O-oh, Chae, hi,” Jungeun stuttered. “Are you on the, uh, scavenger hunt too?”

“No, I was just making a business call,” she said smoothly. “We just keep running into each other, don’t we? Although I don’t think I’ve met…” She raised her eyebrow at Chuu. 

“Oh, hi! I’m Chuu, I’m Kimmie’s wife,” Chuu said brightly, extending a hand for Chae to shake. Jungeun did her best not to grimace at the nickname. 

“Ah, yes. Newlyweds.” Chae gave them a knowing smile, making Jungeun’s face go even redder. Jesus, she actually felt like she had been walked in on. 

“Well! We should probably get back to scavenging, haha,” Jungeun said hurriedly, grabbing Chuu’s hand. “See you around, Chae!” With that, she dragged her fake wife down the hallway and out of sight. Neither of them said anything until they were safely behind the elevator doors. 

“We need to get back to our room and talk to Olivia,  _ now _ ,” Chuu said breathlessly, and Jungeun nodded enthusiastically. She hadn’t quite been expecting this level of excitement, but hey, at least Chuu had forgotten all about the stupid hunt. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i literally have no idea how to end chapters lmao.  
> hit me up!  
> twt: @oddeyejinsol  
> cc: curiouscat.me/oddeyejinsol


	7. celebrating nothing

“Whoa, whoa, whoa - repeat all of that again,  _ slowly _ .”

Chuu and Jungeun looked at each other, vying for who would get to talk first. As soon as Olivia had picked up they had both burst into frenzied conversation. Olivia continued impatiently, “Look, it really doesn’t matter which one of you says it, I promise to give you both equal credit when I report back to Vivi. Just spit it out!”

“We just overheard a possibly important conversation between Go Won and her dealer, probably,” Chuu blurted out, earning her a glare from Jungeun. 

“Okay,” Olivia said, switching into alert mode. “When was this, and what exactly did you hear?”

“About ten, fifteen minutes ago,” Jungeun chimed in. “She was on the phone, and she was asking the other person where they were gonna arrive on the boat. She didn’t seem to get an answer, though.”

“So the person isn’t even on the boat yet,” Chuu concluded. “They’re gonna be getting on at one of the next stops, posing as a passenger.”

“Interesting,” Olivia mused. “How did you manage to overhear this? Did you bug her room?”

“Negative,” Jungeun said. “She has firewalls stronger than the fucking Great Wall of China. We just heard her in the hallway.”

“Did she see you?” Olivia asked. “Do you think she knew you overheard?”

“Well… She only saw us after the phone call was over. But we had a cover set in place, so I’m sure she didn’t think anything of it,” Chuu said quickly. Jungeun snorted quietly. Some cover…

“Alright, then. Just stay vigilant, and dry clean immediately if you have even the slightest suspicion that she’s onto you,” Olivia ordered, ending the phone call abruptly as she always did.

Jungeun folded her arms and looked pointedly at Chuu. “So you can attack me in the middle of the hallway, but you can’t tell Olivia that you did it?”

Chuu shoved her shoulder, avoiding eye contact. “Shut up! You weren’t coming up with anything, so I did what I had to do. Besides, it worked.”

“Yup, she just thinks we’re sex-crazed newlyweds, but not spies, so that’s good,” Jungeun laughed. She was teasing Chuu, but secretly she was just as flustered about it. She had kind of been thinking about how it would be to kiss Chuu all day, and well, now she knew.

“Okay, changing the subject!” Chuu said pointedly. “I don’t think there’s really a point in going back to the scavenger hunt, we’ve definitely lost the lead now.”

“Yeah, cause that’s the most important thing about today,” Jungeun deadpanned. “We should just give up and get lunch, I’m starving.”

Chuu shrugged. “Well, I’ll never say no to lunch!” They walked together to the dining hall, making fake conversation whenever they walked past someone and bursting into giggles about it afterwards. Although the day had started out boring, Jungeun was genuinely beginning to enjoy herself. Chuu might be annoying, but she was also kind of funny, and definitely refreshing to be around in the midst of all this tension  

Despite her gigantic breakfast, Chuu ended up with even more food on her plate than Jungeun. As they dug into their lunch, Jungeun had to admit that Chae was right - the food wasn’t great. As if Jungeun had summoned her by thought, Chae herself suddenly slipped into the empty seat beside Chuu. “Mind if I join you, girls?”

Jungeun choked on her mouthful of food, and Chuu jumped at the opportunity to speak. “Of course - Chae, was it?”

“That’s right,” Chae confirmed, lifting her fork. The only things on her plates were cakes and desserts, a childlike appetite to match her appearance. “Your wife and I have been bumping into each other quite a lot. How are you both liking the cruise?”

“Loving it!” Jungeun said, having recovered. “Although it’s nothing compared to the Canary Islands, is it, babe?”

Maybe she was just imagining it, but Chuu seemed to blush at the pet name. She smiled and said, “oh, they were gorgeous!” Turning to Chae, she explained, “this is the last stop on our honeymoon. We were touring Europe before, and it was just amazing.”

“That does sound exciting,” Chae smiled gracefully. “I’ve been to Europe many times myself. France was nice, but cold. I enjoyed Hungary much better. The food was excellent.”

At the mention of Hungary, Chuu’s face fell. It was just for a split second, and Chae wasn’t looking, but Jungeun saw the way her expression darkened before she managed to recompose herself. “I’m gonna get more water, anyone want anything?”

“Be a dear and bring me a martini, will you?” Chae asked, and Chuu nodded before walking off briskly. Chae raised an eyebrow and stole a fry from Chuu’s plate, asking, “What’s the matter with her?”

So Chae had noticed. She was very perceptive, Jungeun noted, and replied, “I think she’s still a little tense over our fight.”

Chae chewed thoughtfully. “Funny how you’re raving about how  _ amazing  _ your honeymoon is, but behind the scenes, you’re fighting… Do you think she’s jealous? Of you spending so much time with me?” She winked.

Thankfully Chuu returned at that moment, saving Jungeun from having to answer. Chae accepted her drink gracefully, and the three sat in painful silence for a few moments. To try and break the tension, Jungeun said, “This paella is actually quite nice!”

Chuu stared at her. “Honey...there’s shrimp in there.”

“Oh, fuck,” Jungeun hissed, She was allergic. Well, she wasn’t, but  _ Kimberly  _ was. She feigned sputtering sounds, her hands flying to her neck. Chuu rose quickly, grabbing Jungeun’s arm, and leading her out of the dining hall.

“Let’s go to our room, sweetie, there are allergy pills there!” When Chuu noticed that their theatrics had attracted some curious stares, she yelled dramatically, “I’ll sue for this! You should provide an allergy warning or at  _ least  _ a list of ingredients!”

Chuu continued yelling all down the hall until they reached the elevator. As soon as the door slid closed, both girls burst into uncontrollable laughter. Jungeun wiped at a tear that had sprung from the corner of her eye. “You know I’m not actually allergic, right? Why did you say that and make me fake an allergic reaction to  _ shrimp _ , Jesus!” She broke into laughter again.

“Hey, it was the backstory!” Chuu laughed. “Not my fault you’re dumb enough not to know what’s in paella.”

“Well, you’re right, they  _ should  _ have an ingredients list!” Jungeun said indignantly, and when the elevator doors slid open again, continued to fake gag and wheeze until they were safe inside their room.

Chuu sat on the bed, stretching her arms. “I didn’t like her,” she admitted. “She seriously creeped me out. What’s that thing, when a doll is just a bit too lifelike?”

“Uncanny valley,” Jungeun replied with a shudder. “Yeah, she’s definitely terrifying. Somehow I don’t have any trouble imagining her killing people.”

Once again, Chuu stiffened, looking away. Jungeun frowned. “Hey, you should probably try and get a better control of your facial responses to things. She noticed you were bristly at lunch.”

“Oh yes, I’m totally fine, thanks,” Chuu said sarcastically. “Empathy, much?”

“Sorry, I don’t really deal with emotions often,” Jungeun said with a shrug. “Do you want me to ask you what’s wrong?”

“It was her mentioning Hungary,” Chuu said, clearly taking that as an invitation. “I just … that’s where she killed my friend. She  _ killed  _ someone, and she’s talking about it like it was a nice little vacation. I mean, I knew she was evil, but it’s just…”

“Fucked up?” Jungeun offered, and Chuu nodded vigorously.

“Yeah. It really is. God, I can’t wait until we capture her,” Chuu muttered. Jungeun was kind of amazed at the fact that Chuu had just … talked to her. Something was bothering her, and instead of just bottling it up and brooding over it for ages, she just talked it out. Clearly it seemed to be working for her, since she quickly recovered her energy and took off to take a taekwondo class in the gym. Maybe Jungeun should try it out sometime. (The talking, not the taekwondo.)

The rest of the night passed uneventfully. When Chuu came back from the gym both girls just hung around on their laptops until it was time for bed. Jungeun was using the free time to do her research and catch up on what she’d missed during her year of inactivity. So far, she didn’t think she’d missed out on any good cases. 

Even though Jungeun was an early sleeper, she forced herself to stay awake until Chuu was the one who started yawning and turning off the lights. Even as she lay in bed, face turned against the wall, she refused to let herself succumb to sleep until she could hear Chuu’s light snoring first. It was dumb, but she had issues around trust and vulnerability; not being the first one to go to sleep eased it somehow.

And maybe the sound of Chuu’s steady breathing helped her relax. Whatever.

* * *

_ Jungeun woke up to the sound of the shower running again. When Chuu exited, she was wearing the same fluffy robe as last time _ _ , but tied rather loosely. Jungeun’s eyes traced the movement of the water droplets down the V of exposed skin. _

_ “Good morning,” Chuu murmured, letting the robe fall open just a little more as she approached. Before Jungeun could ask what was going on, the redhead had straddled her smoothly, pinning her arms above her head.  _

_ “I think we were interrupted a little early last time,” Chuu whispered, leaning over so their faces were inches apart. Jungeun, never one to waste time, tilted her neck upwards to close the distance in a deep kiss.  _

_ They picked up where they had left off in the hallway with no hesitation, Chuu’s hands moving down to unbutton Jungeun’s sleep shirt. Jungeun’s head was swimming with the scent of Chuu’s strawberry body wash, and her own hands were moving subconsciously, roaming over as much slick skin she could get to… _

The warm, heady sensation vanished in an instant as Jungeun actually woke up, her heartbeat pounding uncomfortably.  _ What the fuck... _ a quick glance over confirmed that Chuu was sound asleep, her face smushed into the pillow adorably. She was probably having a nice, innocent dream, and Jungeun was dreaming about doing unspeakable things about her in that very same bed …

She shook her head firmly. She needed to quit thinking like that and get back to sleep. She resorted to counting numbers backwards from 100 until she felt herself starting to nod off. This time, she was almost hoping for the nightmare. 

Thankfully, the rest of her sleep passed uneventfully, and if  Chuu noticed her being slightly more awkward the next day, she didn’t comment on it. She brought out the itinerary again when they sat down to eat breakfast, musing over the options. “Ugh, this is all lame stuff, like shuffleboard and — oh wait, there’s an adults only dance party tonight!”

“Why do they have to make it sound so inappropriate?” Jungeun snorted. 

Chuu continued, “starts at 8, live music, bottomless margaritas…”

Jungeun snatched the itinerary. “I’m sorry, did you say  _ bottomless _ ? Oh, we’re definitely going to this!”

“It’ll be fun to dance, too!” Chuu said brightly. 

“And there’ll be no annoying kids. This is a dream,” Jungeun sighed contentedly. 

“Aw, the kids aren’t that bad,” Chuu said. 

“Maybe it’s cause you are one,” Jungeun said, looking pointedly at the orange juice Chuu was drinking. Chuu just stuck out her tongue and went back to digging into her breakfast. Jungeun smiled as she sipped her coffee. She remembered calling Chuu a child when they first met, but this time, it felt more like friendly banter than an insult. Jungeun had to admit to herself that maybe there was more to Chuu than that first impression. 

She got slightly distracted for a second watching Chuu lick some whipped cream off the corner of her mouth. Yeah...there was a lot more.

* * *

Later that night, Chuu made Jungeun watch as she tried on various outfits in preparation for the dance. It was actually cute how excited she was about it, so Jungeun played along. Although she looked good in everything, in the end she decided on a flowy white dress that would be easy to dance in.

“Don’t tell me you’re wearing that,” Chuu said, once Jungrounds had finished putting her own outfit together. 

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” Jungeun frowned and looked down at herself. She was in jeans, a shirt, and a leather jacket. “I mean, it’s what I’d wear if I was going out dancing.”

“What  _ you  _ would wear, not Kimberly,” Chuu said dismissively, ruffling through her suitcase. She threw something at Jungeun. “Go try that on. And hurry, cause it’s starting soon!”

Jungeun grumbled, but relented and went to the bathroom to change. The item of clothing turned out to be a strappy black dress. It was a little glittery for Jungeun’s taste, but she didn’t look half-bad in it, and it was comfortable. 

Chuu’s eyes widened comically when Jungeun stepped out. “I knew it! You look great,” she said, eyes trained on Jungeun’s exposed legs. Jungeun did a little twirl, putting on a show. She knew damn well when she was being checked out. Sure enough, Chuu blushed and quickly got up.

“Come on, let’s get going!” she said urgently, slipping her shoes on. Jungeun decided to leave the poor girl alone, and followed her obediently. They were going to the dining hall, but it had been completely remodeled for the party. The tables had all been moved to the edges of the room, with the middle transformed into an impromptu dance floor. At the far end of the hall, they had put up a little stage where a band was playing fiery Latin music.

“I love this song!” Chuu squealed, tugging at Jungeun’s wrist. “C’mon, let’s dance!”

“Nice try,” Jungeun snorted, snatching her arm back. “I’m going to need at least three drinks before I’m uninhibited enough to start dancing.”

Chuu huffed. “Well, hurry up and go drink! Come find me when you’re done!” With that Chuu disappeared into the dance floor, the swaying bodies swallowing her up in an instant. Jungeun made a beeline for the bar, but quickly realized it was going to be impossible to get the bartender’s attention with the huge crowd that was gathered there. 

“Kim!” she heard a familiar voice call. Standing on her tiptoes and peering over the sea of people, she spotted Chae, sitting at the bar and stirring a toothpick around in a half empty glass. The girl gave a little wave, and yelled, “tell me what you want, I’ll bring it out for you.”

“Uh, three tequila shots!” she called back. She watched Chae curiously as the bartender prepared her drinks. The girl was dressed up in a black dress with a little white bib and black bowtie at the front. She really did look like a creepy little doll, but what was still most unnerving to Jungeun was how young and innocent she looked. She didn’t know what she expected Go Won to look like, but ‘young adult ice princess’ was not the first thing that came to mind.

Chae emerged surprisingly quickly, carrying a tray with definitely more than three shots on it. She motioned Jungeun over to one of the nearby tables and gave her one of the shots, clinking her own against the side. “Bottoms up!”

Jungeun tossed back the shot, wincing at the burn and quickly putting one of the lime slices in her mouth. Chae had already moved onto her second shot, and was reaching for the third.  _ Great, she looks like a high schooler and is already drinking me under the table _ , she thought. Already feeling that warm feeling that preceded drunkness, she followed Chae’s lead and took another shot.

Chae raised her eyebrows, taking a lime slice for herself. “Careful now. What would your wife think about you getting drunk with another pretty girl?” she giggled. “Where is she, anyway?”

Jungeun took her third shot to avoid responding, but now the alcohol had made her less inhibited and her mental gears were turning. She had been avoiding Chae’s (aggressive) advances so far, but what if she played along? Surely she should take any opportunity possible to get closer to the target, even if it meant having to pretend to be attracted to such an evil person.

“Chuu and I aren’t attached at the hip, you know. I do things she doesn’t know about,” Jungeun responded, leaning slightly over the table. Chae’s eyes widened, clearly taken aback at Jungeun’s sudden boldness. She opened her mouth to speak, but just then, Jungeun felt an arm wrap around her shoulders.

“Hey, guys!” Chuu said cheerily. “This is so much fun, and someone just bought me a beer! And I drank the whole thing!”

Jungeun forced a smile.  _ Goddamn her timing _ . “That’s nice, sweetie,” she said absently.

“Hey, come dance with me,” Chuu said, tugging at Jungeun’s hand.

“Ah, I don’t think so,” Jungeun laughed, but Chuu was very tipsy and very insistent. Very strong, too, Jungeun was reminded when Chuu basically pulled her arm out of her socket.

“Okay, Jesus,” she grumbled, jogging slightly to keep up with Chuu, who was bounding back onto the dance floor. She had to admit, though, the song that was playing was good. She couldn’t help but start bopping along, and soon she and Chuu were jumping around enthusiastically with the rest of the crowd.

“Were you guys talking about anything interesting?” Chuu yelled over the thumping music. Jungeun just shook her head. Now wasn’t the time. Besides, she had a feeling Chuu wouldn’t approve of her idea, so she didn’t have to know about it quite yet.

The song changed to a slower, more sensual song, with an irresistible rhythm. Jungeun found herself getting lost in the music, her body swaying instinctively as she closed her eyes. That wasn’t a very good idea, because the next moment, somebody’s arm whacked her and sent her stumbling sideways. She bumped into Chuu, and grabbed onto her to keep steady.

“Ah, sorry!” she exclaimed, feeling the alcohol really kick in. She had forgotten to move her hands off Chuu’s waist, but the other girl didn’t seem to mind. On the contrary, she wrapped her own arms around Jungeun’s neck, and they began to dance together.

Jungeun was really drunk, and Chuu was really pretty. Like,  _ really  _ pretty. Jungeun couldn’t stop staring at her face, illuminated in the low red lighting of the room, but it was okay because Chuu was staring back, her expression unreadable. Her eyes flitted over Jungeun’s shoulder for a split second.

“She’s watching us,” Chuu murmured, barely audible. Now her head was ducked shyly, avoiding Jungeun’s eyes. Jungeun, emboldened by the tequila, reached out to brush a strand of Chuu’s hair behind her ear, letting her hand linger against the girl’s face for a second longer. Chuu’s eyes snapped back up to meet Jungeun’s, the tension between them thickening. Their faces got closer and closer as they danced and Jungeun didn’t really know who initiated it but suddenly they were kissing.

Her hands moved of their own accord up Chuu’s back as the kiss deepened quickly. It was nothing like their first one, which had been rushed and panicked, both of them focusing solely on not getting caught. Now Jungeun felt as if the whole hall was disappearing and it was only herself and Chuu in the entire world.

Eventually they broke for air, resting their foreheads against each other. Her surroundings started to fade back in, and Jungeun remembered where she was. It was a fake kiss, with her fake wife, to validate their fake relationship to their target. Nothing more. Even if it was the best kiss of her damn life.

“Is she still looking?” she asked quietly. Chuu sneaked another peek, and frowned.

“She’s not there anymore,” she said. Despite the alcohol, Jungeun’s brain immediately switched on, her eyes scanning the room for that long head of blonde hair. She was nowhere in sight, though. Jungeun’s brow furrowed. “Well, shit. We lost her.”

“So what!” Chuu said, throwing her hands up. “We didn’t come for her anyway, right? We’re here to have  _ fun _ ! I want another beer!” Jungeun was about to protest, thinking that maybe they should both slow down, but when Chuu grabbed her hand she allowed herself to be led away, distracted by the feeling of their fingers interlaced. Fuck it, she decided, letting herself sink into the music. This was her honeymoon, she could dance if she wanted to.


	8. never let me go

_ Fucking … seagulls … won’t … shut up …  _

Jungeun slowly faded into consciousness. She couldn’t remember whether she had been having a good or bad dream, but she was definitely pissed now. The screaming of evil sea birds was not exactly how she wanted to start  _ any  _ morning, especially not one where she could already tell she was going to be dreadfully hungover.

The more awake she got, the more aware she became of her difficulty breathing. She wondered if she had been drunk-smoking last night (honestly, some memories were lost on her), but soon realized that there was a literal weight on her chest …

Her eyes snapped open to be greeted with the top of Chuu’s head, which was currently tucked into her neck. The girl was splayed directly across Jungeun like a koala. Jungeun tried to wiggle out from underneath her, but she was totally trapped, only resulting in Chuu shifting slightly and letting out a piercing snore. 

Jungeun swallowed and closed her eyes again, the sunlight in the room far too bright for her. She was acutely aware of the fact that Chuu’s toned, warm legs were lying right across hers, and her soft breathing was sending shivers up her spine, but she couldn’t even appreciate it because her head hurt like a  _ bitch _ .

Eventually, the hangover won and she just had to push Chuu off and escape. The girl barely even flinched even as Jungeun got dressed and left the room. She needed her foolproof hangover cure: black coffee and slightly-burnt toast. After 3 cups and 7 slices, she was finally beginning to feel like a human again, and decided to go back and get more sleep.

When she walked back into the room, Chuu was still in the exact same position. She looked so peaceful when she was sleeping; Jungeun really never would have imagined that this angelic-looking figure could be so damn  _ loud _ . She slipped between the sheets beside her and settled back into the bed, already feeling the tiredness take over her body again.

Right before she dozed off, she reached out to grab Chuu, more subconsciously than consciously. She wrapped herself back around the girl, and dozed off comfortably in the warmth of her touch, too blissed out to be concerned about what that meant.

When she woke back up, Chuu was gone. She had left a small note on Jungeun’s bedside table that read  _ going to the spa for a full treatment, see you later!  _ Jungeun flopped back on the bed, suddenly feeling lost with the whole day stretching ahead of her. Chuu was usually the one to pore over the itinerary and decide what they were going to do for the day, and for some reason, Jungeun felt a prickle of irritation that Chuu had gone off by herself like that.

“Get a grip, you’re not actually on your honeymoon,” she grumbled to herself, dragging a hand across her face. Besides, it would be hypocritical to be mad at Chuu for doing things without her, she thought, remembering her drunken actions with a slight cringe. 

Okay, it probably wasn’t the smartest idea to try and make a move on Gowon while inebriated. Still, though, she couldn’t help musing over the plan. It was a classic spy method for obtaining information - sex meant trust for most people, and they were more willing to be open with people they’d shared a bed with. Also, Gowon had shown interest first, so it would simply be a waste of an opportunity not to pursue that path, right?

Jungeun mused it over as she went about showering and tidying up the room, and after a couple hours of contemplation, she decided that she’d put her plan into action. There was no better time than now, after all; Chuu was gone, and she didn’t know when she’d get that chance again. She hyped herself up as she picked out an outfit and primped her appearance. Then she took a deep breath and made her way across the hall to room 11.

After she knocked, she realized that she didn’t even know if Chae was in her room or not. How could she overlook literally the foundational steps of this plan? A few moments passed and she was just about to give up and go have a proper breakfast, the door swung open.

“Hey,” Chae said, smoothing down her hair. She was wearing an oversized sweater and shorts, and her eyes were still lidded with sleep. Jungeun would say she looked cute, but she didn’t know if that was an appropriate adjective to describe a cold hearted killer.

“Hey. Sorry I woke you,” Jungeun said apologetically. “I was wondering if we could talk?”

“Sure, yeah, come in,” Chae said, opening the door wider. Jungeun entered and perched at the end of the bed. The room was surprisingly … human. There was a half-empty water glass on the desk, and a pile of clothes strewn haphazardly on the floor. It was disturbing somehow to Jungeun, who was still having difficult wrapping her head around the fact that this seemingly normal girl was the mastermind that was being hunted unsuccessfully by practically the whole spy world.

“What’s up?” Chae asked with a barely-concealed yawn, sitting beside Jungeun.

Jungeun turned to look at her, taking a steadying breath. “I’ve been thinking,” she began, letting her voice drop slightly. “I want to take you up on your offer. The one from the first night, I mean. This honeymoon has been … a lot, and I can’t stop thinking about you. I tried to resist it, but I just can’t get you off my mind.”

It was quite a convincing performance, if she could say so herself. As she let her voice trail off, she moved her hand so that it was resting on Chae’s, her fingers tracing up the inside of her wrist, over that tattoo. Chae’s face had been blank till now, but suddenly she snatched her hand away. Jungeun looked at her questioningly. 

“Listen … I know I’ve been flirting with you a lot, but I don’t think I’m really ready for that,” Chae said, avoiding Jungeun’s eyes. “I’m still not over my last relationship, I guess.”

“I thought it was a fling,” Jungeun said questioningly.

Chae scratched the back of her head. “Yeah. I guess it’s just hitting me harder than I want to admit, even to myself.” Jungeun was utterly confused, to say the very least. It was frustratingly hard to get a read on whether the girl was being honest or not, but in either case, it was clear to Jungeun that she was being rejected.

“Well, I feel like a complete idiot,” she said, not having to lie about that. “I totally misread that.”

“No, you didn’t. I was coming on pretty strong,” Chae said with a laugh. “And I mean, I totally would. It’s just … not a great time for me right now.”

“I understand. I shouldn’t even be here, I'm married now,” Jungeun said, trying to sound guilty. “I should go, let you catch up on your sleep.”

“Well, I won’t say no to that,” Chae said with a grin, rising from the bed as well to walk Jungeun out. As she left, Chae added, “you know, I didn’t think you’d actually take me up on it. I’m slightly impressed.”

“I’m full of surprises,” Jungeun said, and Chae closed the door with a laugh. Jungeun headed back to her room, the embarrassment quickly being replaced by irritation. She was pissed off at herself for her plan bombing like that, she was pissed off at Chae for giving mixed signals and making her job harder, and on top of it all, she was pissed off at Chuu, for no reason she could discern.

Maybe it was just leftover trauma from the last time her partner had left her. Maybe it was just that she missed Chuu, as stupid as that sounded. She had gotten used to the girl’s constant presence the last couple weeks, and as annoying as it was, it was also comforting. With Chuu around, Jungeun could barely hear herself think, let alone worry. Even now, Chuu had only been gone for a few hours, and Jungeun’s mind was already wandering back to that dark place.

Her internal monologue was getting too pathetic for her, so she decided to distract herself by taking advantage of the free WiFi. She started off watching dumb YouTube videos to distract herself, and somehow eventually found herself looking at apartment listings back home. She didn’t want to stay in that depressing little place for much longer than she had to, and she wouldn’t have to worry about rent after she got paid by Vivi, so now was as good a time as ever to start looking. Besides, she really was thinking about what Yerim had said to her. She was beginning to really feel like it was time to get her life back together, start to move on.

It was sundown by the time Chuu came back, her skin looking dewy and her whole body smelling like jasmine. “Hello!” she sang, practically floating into the room. “That was incredible. You have to visit the spa before we go, seriously, you  _ have  _ to.”

“I mean, I could have gone with you today,” Jungeun said, hating how petulant she sounded.

“Yeah, but I didn’t wanna wake you,” Chuu said, and Jungeun felt herself thaw slightly. Well, that was nice. Taking her shoes off, Chuu continued, “so what did you get up to today?”

Jungeun groaned. “Don’t even remind me. I went to try and seduce Go Won, but it failed. Miserably. Which is confusing, because that’s what she’s been trying to do literally since she first saw me, but anyway. I guarantee your day was way better.”

Chuu had stopped in her actions, staring at Jungeun oddly. “You tried to  _ seduce  _ her?”

“I mean, yeah,” Jungeun said with a shrug. “So?”

“Nothing!” Chuu said defensively. “I just didn’t know this was a honey trap, that’s all.”

Something about Chuu’s tone rubbed Jungeun the wrong way. She responded, a bit snappishly, “what’s wrong with a good honey trap? It’s one of the most tried and true methods out there, you should know that.”

“Well, yeah, but you’re supposed to be on your honeymoon. Isn’t that a little trashy?” Chuu said, her voice dripping with contempt. "And didn't you maybe think to run this by me before making such a big move?"

Jungeun barked out a laugh. “Run this by you? I’m sorry, did you forget that we’re not actually married?” she said bitingly. 

Chuu pursed her lips, and bent down, putting her shoes back on. “How could I forget,” she muttered, straightening back up and turning the doorknob.

“Wait, where are you going?” Jungeun asked, still prepared to fight.

“To the gym, so I can go hit a punching bag instead of you,” Chuu hissed, leaving and slamming the door behind her. 

Thankfully, the gym was empty, and Chuu didn’t hesitate before attacking one of the punching bags at full force. Her cheeks were burning with humiliation. How could she have been so stupid? Convincing herself that there was something more to their touches, to their kisses. The way her heart sped up at the sight of Jungeun’s soft, sleeping face. She knew it was all in her head, but there was still some part of her that hoped that maybe, just maybe, Jungeun was feeling the same way … 

Of course she wasn’t, though. It was all fake. Jungeun had hated her from the moment they met. Hell, she had almost turned down the case because of how much she didn’t want to work with her. Why the fuck would she think that could change? Jungeun was only here for a check and to capture Go Won, and afterwards they would never even speak to each other again.

Chuu collapsed onto the bench, sweaty and exhausted. Now that she had punched all the anger out, all she felt was sadness. It was dumb, but she had really fallen for Jungeun in the short amount of time they’d spent together. Even now, all she wanted to do was to go back to Jungeun, and curl up to sleep beside her, and wake up holding each other like they had been doing lately but both pretending not to notice.

She allowed herself to cry, just for a moment, before collecting herself and washing her face. Jungeun might hate her, but she wanted the rest of this trip to pass smoothly, so she needed to go back and make amends. She practiced her apology on the way back to the room, but when she opened the door, all the words flew out of her head. Jungeun was curled in on herself on the bed, her cheeks stained with tears, her body shaking with silent sobs.

“Kim, what’s the matter?” Chuu asked, worry seeping through her voice as she instinctively rushed over and wrapped her arms around Jungeun. Surprisingly, the girl didn’t object, leaning into the embrace and looking up at Chuu with red, raw eyes.

“They found Jinsol. They - they found her body.”

She collapsed into quiet crying again, and all Chuu could do was hold her, stroking her hair soothingly and whispering quiet comforts. She couldn’t imagine what this was like for Jungeun, and her heart ached for the girl. She wished she could take away her pain.

When Jungeun’s cries slowed down to a sniffle, Chuu quietly asked, “do you want to talk?”

She was half-expecting Jungeun to lash out at her again, but to her surprise, she just lay her head on Chuu’s shoulder and responded softly. “I … I guess there’s not a lot to talk about. I’m not really crying because I’m sad - I mean, obviously, I’m sad - but now at least … there’s a sense of closure. I assumed she was dead, I’m not an idiot, but this … is real. I don’t have to wonder anymore. We can have a funeral when I’m back, and…” she sighed and wiped her eyes. “I’m just happy we can finally put her to rest. She deserved that, at least.”

“I’m so sorry, Jungeun,” Chuu whispered, swiping away a stray tear with her thumb. They made eye contact again, Jungeun’s eyes sparkling with tears. 

“Thank you,” she whispered back, genuinely meaning it. She couldn’t believe that she had just openly cried and discussed her feelings with somebody. She expected to feel shame, self-consciousness, any array of negative emotions, but she really just felt like a weight had been lifted off her chest. And the way Chuu was looking at her, her eyes shining with compassion and her arms so steady and warm, and the way her voice had sounded when she said Jungeun’s name, her real name … it sounded like a prayer.

Before Jungeun even knew what she was doing, she was kissing Chuu. Their lips simply fell into place like that was where they belonged, her hands cupping Chuu’s face earnestly. Her heart was swelling with emotions, and she didn’t think she could decipher them even if she wanted to, but she didn’t. She didn’t even want to think right now. She just knew that she wanted Chuu closer.  _ Needed  _ her closer, like she was running out of air and Chuu was breathing life back into her.

Chuu broke away, breathing heavily, when Jungeun’s fingertips grazed at the bottom of her shirt. “Jungeun,” she began, her voice shaky, but Jungeun shook her head.

“ _ Please _ ,” she breathed, trying to convey her desperation into that one word. Chuu must have heard it, because something changed in her expression; her eyes darkened, her lips parted. 

“Okay,” she whispered, and they were kissing again, harder this time, both of them knowing what they wanted. It felt like they were being pulled together by some unseen force, both of them craving more of the other’s touch. Chuu pulled Jungeun on top of her, locking her legs around her waist, and  _ god _ , it felt so right. All thoughts of Jinsol and Chae and their mission and just  _ everything _ completely disappeared from Jungeun’s head. The only thing that mattered was Chuu’s soft breaths and her fingers tightening in Jungeun’s hair and her pliant body against Jungeun’s.

It was all her. Only her.

* * *

After, Jungeun couldn’t help but stare in wonder at Chuu, laid across the mattress in blissful half-sleep. This was how Jungeun had been imagining her since that day she came out of the shower: skin flushed, hair splayed across the pillow, all of her exposed for Jungeun to see. She looked like a work of art, and it made Jungeun’s heart skip painfully.

“Hey,” she said gently, and Chuu’s eyes fluttered open. “Thank you.”

“I mean, thank  _ you, _ ” Chuu murmured, and Jungeun couldn’t help but press a kiss to her lips.

“I was talking about earlier. Thank you for listening to me,” she clarified. “I shouldn’t have reacted so harshly all of those times you tried to get me to talk about it.”

Chuu shrugged. “Hey, you just weren’t ready then. It’s okay. And I’m still here if you wanna talk about it more. Or if you want me to … distract you.” She grinned mischievously. 

There was something Jungeun wanted to say, but the words felt oddly choked up in her throat. Instead, she kissed Chuu again, languidly this time, nothing like the urgency of before. They fell asleep like that: arms wrapped around each other, kissing softly, like they were exchanging secrets. Chuu dropped off first, but Jungeun followed soon after, her whole body calmed by Chuu’s rhythmic breathing and the scent of her hair.

There were no nightmares.

When Jungeun woke the next morning, they were tangled together again, and for the first time Chuu hadn’t thrown off all the sheets. She was content to lay there, counting Chuu’s eyelashes, until the girl’s big brown eyes opened.

“Morning,” she murmured, pressing her face into the pillow. “How’re you feeling?”

“Better,” Jungeun said. It was true; last night had been … emotional, to say the least, but now in the clarity of the day, she felt so much lighter. She had been grieving for so long that it was strange to think that she could ever be able to put that grief to rest, but now she was beginning to find hope that she could move on. 

“No regrets?” Chuu asked warily.

“None,” Jungeun confirmed, the response coming immediately. It may have taken her a while to come to terms with her feelings for Chuu, but there was no doubt about them now. When she pictured herself moving on, now, she pictured Chuu by her side. 

Chuu smiled in response, pressing a kiss to Jungeun’s shoulder. “As much as I would just like to lay here forever, we should probably do our jobs today. I think we should try and find out when Go Won is planning to meet her dealer.”

“I agree. Shower first, though?”

Chuu pretended to think about it. “You know, they say you save water when you shower with a friend.”

“Well, I’m crazy about the environment,” Jungeun said, making Chuu squeal when she picked her up and hauled her off to the bathroom. As they lathered each other’s hair and kissed lazily under the hot rivulets of water, they finally felt like a team. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ladies and gentlemen.. we got em!! also i changed my twitter handle, if you'd like to follow me im now at @bluejinsol!


	9. rosy

“What’s 7 across, begins with t, alternative word: Judas?”

“Tell me again why you do these crossword puzzles if you don’t know any of the answers and end up asking me every time?” Jungeun asked. Chuu stuck her tongue out at her and buried her nose in her newspaper, missing the gentle smile that Jungeun gave back over her coffee mug. The past few days had been incredible. With Olivia assuring them that they were on top of the case enough to relax, they had just been spending the days together, and it was the best thing Jungeun had done for her mental health in a while.

It kind of scared her, the intensity with which her emotions were building. She hadn’t clicked this well with someone since … since Jinsol, and Chuu was a huge part of the reason that Jungeun was able to even think about Jinsol without breaking down. She had caught herself telling Chuu about the time Jinsol crashed the getaway car, and it wasn’t till the end that she realized that she'd gotten through the whole story without feeling that horrible ache. Something about Chuu made her want to be an optimist, to focus on the fondness of the memory instead the sadness of her loss.

The problem was that the line between what was real and what was fake was blurry. They were acting all domestic and romantic, but hadn’t they been doing that all along as part of the act? Had anything really changed other than their physical relationship? She didn’t even know Chuu’s real name…

“She’s incoming, 11 o’clock,” Chuu whispered, before plastering on a bright smile and waving while yelling Chae’s name. The blonde had a deer in the headlights look, like she wanted to keep walking, but it was obvious that she’d noticed Chuu so she headed over to join them. Jungeun composed her game face quickly. She could worry about her love life after they were done with their mission.

“Good morning, ladies,” Chae said, her tone robotic as always. “How are you both?”

“Just great! We visited the steam room yesterday and it was  _ so  _ rejuvenating,” Chuu said. Jungeun tried to keep a straight face as she recalled exactly what happened in that steam room. Rejuvenating was one word for it, she supposed.

“Oh, I haven’t been there yet,” Chae remarked. “I might go tomorrow, I’m not doing anything.”

“We were just talking about our plans for tomorrow too! We wanted to visit the next stop on the list but the captain said some of the stops are going to be delayed,” Chuu said. Jungeun’s brow furrowed slightly. What was she talking about?

Chae frowned. “Wait, when did he say that?”

“Oh, when breakfast started. You must have missed it,” Chuu said, popping a strawberry into her mouth. Jungeun was impressed with how smoothly she lied, never missing a beat.

“Did he mention Jeju?” Chae asked, and  _ oh _ , Jungeun understood. Chuu just roped her into telling them where she was meeting this mystery person.

Chuu pretended to think. “No, he didn’t. What’s in Jeju?”

“The Cheonjiyeon Waterfall,” Chae said innocently. “Excuse me, girls, but I’ve gotta run. Have a nice breakfast!” She took off as quickly as she had arrived, and Jungeun and Chuu exchanged excited, freaked-out glances across the table for a brief moment before going back to their happy couple scene.

“What’s 6 down, begins with s, it can be spilled?”

* * *

 

The ship was set to port in Jeju in four days, and they were by far the longest days of Jungeun’s life. Even though Olivia had assured them that at this point there was nothing to do but wait, Jungeun felt like she was bursting out of her skin with every passing moment. She was  _ not  _ a patient person, and the slow burn of anticipation only made her more antsy.

Chuu, to her credit, tried her best to keep Jungeun occupied, distracted, but she only withdrew further into herself. Out of nowhere, all her worries had come hurtling back at full force. The last time she’d done anything like this, it had ended worse than she had ever imagined. What did this final meeting have in store for her?

Her emotions were also getting the best of her, making it almost impossible to think professionally. Even though she’d sworn never to open her heart again, Chuu had just walked right in like it was nothing and firmly planted herself there. At night, when Chuu dozed peacefully and she stayed awake on edge, she’d been continuing the hunt for apartments, but looking for bigger sizes. Queen beds. She had begun to imagine Chuu as a permanent fixture in her life, and the thought of losing her was far scarier than her fear of drowning.

The night before, though, they both lay in bed unable to sleep. They’d had slow, soft sex, full of meaningful looks and unheard whispers. Now, after the fact, it felt to Jungeun a bit too much like a preemptive goodbye.

Chuu waved her fingers in front of Jungeun’s face. “You’re thinking again. Stop it,” she scolded. Jungeun smiled tiredly and grabbed her fingers, kissing them. 

“Sorry,” she murmured. “Just nervous for tomorrow. That’s normal, right?”

“There’d be something wrong with you if you weren’t worried about having a showdown with Go Won,” Chuu snorted. “Still, though, worrying won’t change anything, so if you’re looking for something to do you might as well go set up some spy cams on the front deck so we can see who comes in and out of the boat tomorrow.”

“Okay, bossy,” Jungeun grumbled, pressing a kiss to Chuu’s forehead before grabbing the cams and heading out. Really, she was thankful for the opportunity to have a moment to herself and clear her head. The fresh evening breeze really helped calm her, as did the repetitive motions of setting up and checking the cameras, and she felt much better afterwards.

When she turned to head back inside, she froze at the sight of a girl in front of her. She thought she saw a flash of the silvery blonde her hair used to be, but it must have been her imagination because the other girl was merely her reflection in the glass door. A ghost from her fairly recent past, hollow, haunted. She opened the door sharply, pushing that image aside. That wasn’t her anymore.

Chuu was sound asleep when she got back into the room, splayed across the whole bed as usual. It made Jungeun feel warm, soothed. She slid into bed, positioning Chuu gently so that they were wrapped up in each other, and rested her head against the top of the other girl’s. She felt calm enough to sleep, knowing that whatever happened tomorrow, Jiwoo would be by her side.

That was definitely easier said than done, though, because when the next day arrived she was more riled up than ever. Jungeun had been up bright and early, waking Chuu with her nervous pacing. Chuu, to her credit, was trying very hard not to seem aggravated, but Jungeun was too wrapped up in her head to even notice that she was winding the girl up.

“Let’s run through the plan one more time,” Jungeun said, biting her thumbnail.

Chuu pinched the bridge of her nose. “1245, we check all the cameras and make sure they’re working. 1300, ship docks at Jeju. 1900, boarding closes. We’ll be watching and ready with weapons at hand. Vivi will have access to the camera feed. We’ll intercept the deal and arrest Go Won.”

Jungeun nodded. “Right. Nice and simple. Everything will go great.”

“Yes, it will, can I please go back to sleep now?” Chuu whined. Jungeun paused her panicking, softened by Chuu’s sleepy expression.

“Yes. I’m sorry,” she sighed, climbing back into bed. Chuu instantly clambered atop her, her warm weight soothing Jungeun. 

“It’s okay,” Chuu murmured, already dropping off to sleep. Jungeun shut her eyes, forcing her mind into silence, focusing on matching her breaths to Chuu’s. She must have fallen back to sleep at some point, because she was suddenly being woken by a knocking on the door.

She jumped out of bed, alarm replacing the residual sleepiness. All their spy shit was strewn out across the floor.  _ Crap.  _ She cracked the door open a tiny sliver, peeking out. Just her fucking luck. It was Chae, in a blue dress and a dab of sunblock on her nose.

“Oh, hi!” she whispered. “Sorry, Chuu’s asleep. What’s up?”

“Sorry to bother you. Can I borrow a hat? It’s really sunny out and I don’t wanna catch heat stroke,” Chae whispered back.

“Uh, sure.” Jungeun shut the door quietly and returned with the hat. “Here, you can keep it. Got some tanning planned?”

“Thanks! No, I’m going out to see the waterfall. Catch ya later. Say hi to Chuu for me.” She waved and turned, continuing in her fashion of leaving abruptly. Jungeun closed the door and leaned back against it, silently freaking out. One thing they hadn’t accounted for in their plan was Chae actually leaving the ship. What if she just did the transaction off the boat?

Dread pooled in her stomach, and she shook Chuu awake. The redhead just buried her face deeper into the pillow. “Kim, please, just go write in a diary or something,” she groaned.

“Chuu, this is serious. Go Won is leaving the boat,” she hissed. Chuu instantly shot up into a sitting position.

“What?! I thought she was just saying that to cover herself yesterday,” Chuu said in horror.

“Apparently not. Fuck, Chuu, what if she’s just going off to meet her dealer on the island? How didn’t we think of that?” 

“Kim,  _ relax _ ,” Chuu instructed, grabbing onto her wrists. “Okay, true, this was a blind spot. But it doesn’t matter if we actually catch her in the trade or not. We can just arrest her when she comes back with a duffel bag of drugs.”

“What if she doesn’t come back, though?” Jungeun said, brow furrowed. “She could just stay on the island.”

“Why would she do that? All her shit’s here,” Chuu pointed out. "This definitely isn't her final stop, Kim."

“God, I don’t know, Chuu. I have a really bad feeling about this. I think one of us should follow her. In disguise, of course. I know I packed a wig in here somewhere…” She moved to get up off the bed but Chuu pulled her back down firmly.

“Kim, don’t be reckless. If she realizes she’s being followed - and she will, because she’s not an amateur - she definitely  _ will  _ just flee onto the island and we’ll never find her. We need her here, on the boat, where she can’t escape.”

Jungeun breathed shakily. “Okay. Yeah, that makes sense,” she said, slightly calmed by Chuu’s rational thinking. Once again, she felt grateful towards the girl for knowing exactly what to say.

Chuu stroked her face. “It’s going to be okay, I promise. Boarding closes at 7, she’ll be back before then.”

Jungeun just nodded, still not fully convinced, but knowing that there was nothing she could do at this point. Except wait. She fucking  _ hated  _ waiting.

The next few hours stretched out like an eternity for Jungeun. She and Chuu passed the time alternating between the game room and flicking through the TV. It felt so mundane to Jungeun, so childish, when she knew that by the end of the day they were either going to succeed or fail their mission. This was really it, the moment they’d been building up to all this time, the essential moment around which their entire plan revolved.

Jungeun didn’t believe in any particular god, but she sent out a prayer to anyone who might be listening.  _ Please don’t let me fuck it up. I can’t take another loss. _

* * *

 

Jungeun had been sitting in front of their computer screens watching the security cams for at least an hour. She was losing hope with every passing minute, but slightly after 6:30 her sharp eyes spotted a familiar sunhat on one of the screens.

“She’s coming back,” Jungeun gasped, enlarging the screens, and Chuu bolted over from where she had begun to actually fold their laundry out of boredom. The girls watched with bated breath, shock crossing both of their faces as they simultaneously realized that Chae wasn’t alone.

“Who the hell is that?” Chuu exclaimed, and Jungeun enlarged the screen to help them see better. The quality still wasn’t excellent, but Chae was clearly walking beside another woman, engaged in conversation. 

“Are they…” Jungeun squinted. “Holding hands?”

“That's probably her dealer ... the classic fake girlfriend. Kinda overplayed if you asked me,” Chuu quipped. Jungeun grinned, her nerves slightly quelled. Chae was back, at least. They had her. It was almost over.

“Where are they headed?” Chuu mused, both of them watching Chae and the mystery girl walk across the multiple camera feeds.

Jungeun pulled up a mental map of the boat in her head, relieved to find that the information came quickly and easily. “Looks like it’s either the boiler room or the laundry room,” she guessed.

“Private locations on the lowest level of the boat…” Chuu sat back in her chair, looking at Jungeun. “It’s happening. This is it.”

Jungeun took a deep breath and shut the computer down, knowing that Vivi was surely watching from wherever she was. “No time to waste,” she said, trying to sound braver than she actually felt.

She and Chuu stood at the same time, facing each other at eye level. Jungeun cupped Jiwoo’s face, drinking in her features before giving her a firm, short kiss. “Let’s do this.”

The halls were fairly empty as they meandered through, most people at dinner. It was good, less conspicuous for them. They were dressed in fairly normal clothing, although they were in all black and wore steel-toed boots for extra damage and to tuck knives in. Each of them had a gun in their waistband too. They were as ready as they could be.

They tried the laundry room first, Chuu peering through the small window in the door, but it was empty. With that knowledge, the opaque door of the boiler room seemed looming, huge. It was the tiniest bit ajar, as though beckoning them, and they knew they had no choice but to enter.

The room was huge, the steel machinery glowing menacingly in the dimness. The door opened smoothly without creaking, and the girls slipped into the cover of the darkness. Their clothing blended right in, and Jungeun was really grateful she’d dyed her hair because the blonde would have been like a beacon in the night.

That was exactly how she was able to spot Go Won, half of her head of hair visible from behind a pipe. Jungeun pointed, Chuu nodded, and they began to approach quietly, each of them approaching one side of the pipe. They were able to make out some hushed conversation as they came closer, but they didn’t have time to eavesdrop. Jungeun mouthed:  _ three, two, one! _

“Hands up and get down!” Jungeun shouted, her voice ringing loudly in the room as she and Chuu both jumped out from behind the pipe, both of them training a gun on one of the girls. 

Go Won let out an uncharacteristically girlish scream, throwing her hands up and kneeling quickly. She stared up the barrel of the gun, and back and forth between the two girls. “Kim? Chuu? What the  _ fuck _ ?” she whispered, and in those few uncomposed moments Jungeun saw a young girl who was much less intimidating without her weapons or goons.

“Agents Lip and Ttalgi,” Jungeun corrected, reveling in the way Go Won’s face drained as she slowly pieced together what was going wrong. “It’s over for you, Go Won.”

“Who is she?” Chuu asked, tilting her chin towards the other girl, who was still just standing there with a shell-shocked expression on her face.

“My girlfriend,” Go Won said quickly. “She’s a civilian.”

Chuu snorted. “Yeah, right. We know you’re here on a drug deal. Is this the plug? Where are the drugs?”

“What drug deal? I swear, we’re just here for the couple’s cruise,” Go Won protested.

“Bullshit!” Jungeun snapped, the back-and-forth putting her on edge. “When we first met you told me you had just dumped your fling, and then that you couldn’t get over your ex. Now this is your girlfriend? Sounds like you can’t get your story straight.”

Go Won actually had the audacity to laugh. “What, you think I’d really tell the truth to some stranger? It’s so much more fun to play with people, don’t you think?” Right. Jungeun kept forgetting that they were dealing with a literal sociopath.

“Enough!” Chuu yelled, cocking the gun at the woman. “Who the fuck are you?”

The woman, who had been completely silent and still up until now, looked up to face the agents. “I really am her girlfriend,” she said quietly, almost inaudibly, but that unmistakable voice made Jungeun’s blood turn cold. She nearly dropped her gun, and she heard Chuu suck in a sharp breath.

In a swift motion, the woman pulled a pair of handcuffs from her back pocket and wrenched the kneeling Go Won’s hands behind her back, cuffing them effortlessly. Go Won gasped and snapped her head around, genuine shock evident in her eyes. “Hyejoo?!”

The girl shook her head with a small, sad smile. “Special Agent Olivia Hye."

Jungeun could have heard a pin drop in the silence following Olivia’s announcement, apart from the disbelieving gasp that escaped Chuu's lips. Her head was completely swimming, her legs feeling shaky all of a sudden; she didn’t know whether to be confused, angry, or worried. It seemed that her brain had settled on a loud mix of the three.

“Hyejoo, tell me what’s going on,” Go Wo pleaded urgently, trying to struggle to her knees. Chuu moved her gun from Olivia to Go Won, yelling, “don’t move!” Go Won stilled. 

“Olivia, Hyejoo, whatever the fuck your name is,” Jungeun barked. “Explain, now.”

Hyejoo nodded jerkily. “When I starting dating her, I had no idea about … what she really did. We met at an internet cafe.” The corner of her mouth tugged upwards slightly, despite her wobbly tone. “She was good at hiding it. I didn’t find out till six months after our first date.”

“You knew?” Go Won whispered, looking shell shocked. “And you’re a…”

“A secret agent,” Hyejoo finished. “Well. Not in the field, anyway. I work undercover, mainly with computers.”

“Why didn’t you report her as soon as you found out?” Chuu said, sounding uncharacteristically angry. “Do you know how many lives you could have saved if you’d stopped her earlier?”

“I was in love with her,” Hyejoo choked out. “You don’t think I lay awake at night thinking of exactly that? How I could have prevented people's deaths if I hadn’t been so selfish?” She let out a single sob, then breathed deeply to collect herself. “I grappled with it for  _ months _ . You have no idea what it’s like, lying to everyone you know and love, becoming someone you don’t recognize … By the time I came to the right decision, I knew so long had passed without me saying anything that I could be tried as an accomplice if I turned her in.”

“So you set this whole thing up,” Jungeun said slowly, the pieces clicking into place.

“She had no idea,” Hyejoo said with a nod, her voice growing smaller and smaller. “I bought us tickets to the cruise, then later told her I had a work emergency but I would meet her at Jeju. Then I called in the ‘anonymous’ tip that she’d be here, and provided all the paperwork. Of course, after landing such a sweet case, I knew Vivi would put me at the head of it.”

“And from there you could watch it all unfold,” Chuu said, with slight disgust. “Knowing that we’d be reporting back to you about everything… Jesus Christ.”

“Hyejoo,” Go Won whimpered, and Jungeun realized she was crying silently, twin rivulets streaming down her face. “Why?”

“Chaewon, you’re a murderer,” Hyejoo whispered, refusing to meet the blonde’s desperate gaze. “I’ve seen every single file. You’ve done terrible things…”

“But you still loved me,” Go Won said. 

Hyejoo wiped at her eyes roughly. “Love isn’t enough sometimes.”

“Of course it is,” Go Won exclaimed. “Being with you changed me, Hyejoo. I didn’t think I could love before, that I could feel anything other than pain and anger… but I love you, so much, and I would never hurt you, you know that.”

“And what about all the other people you’ve hurt?” Chuu suddenly interjected. “What excuse do you have for that? Don’t listen to her, Olivia. She’s lying. It’s all she can do.”

Go Won’s expression hardened suddenly, her features morphing into a twisted sneer as she dropped her tearful expression. “Who asked you, you little brat? God, you’re as annoying as your stupid alter ego. No wonder  _ Kim  _ would’ve rather had me.”

“Shut up,” Jungeun commanded, seeing that Go Won was succeeding at riling Chuu up. “We’ve got you, Go Won. Vivi’s been watching this whole time, and she’s definitely sending backup. It’s over.”

“I disabled the cameras on Vivi’s computer,” Hyejoo said quietly, and Jungeun’s head whipped around. Hyejoo added defensively, “I don’t want this to get traced back to me. I’m going to call her now, tell her you’ve got Go Won, and then leave. I’ll … I’ll go back to my life and try to pretend this never happened. I can only hope neither of you will say anything to her because I…” her voice shook. “I’m losing everything by doing the right thing. I can’t lose my job too.”

Jungeun stared her down for a few minutes before sighing. “Alright,” she relented. “Call her, now, then go. If they find you that’s on you.”

Chuu smiled, but it was a hard smile with no joy. “You’re finally going to get what you deserve,” she said to Go Won.

Go Won laughed cruelly. “Shit, you really have a problem with me, don’t you? How sad. Obsessed with me and I don’t even know who you are.”

“Maybe not,” Chuu countered. “But maybe the name White Swan will ring a bell.”

Go Won pursed her lips in thought before realization dawned on her face. “Hungary,” she said with a giggle. “Was that your little friend? Oh, that was so much fun. You know, I thought she was dead before I set fire to the castle, but she definitely wasn’t. I could hear her begging for the end even from outside. Her screams were  _ so _ beautiful. What a pair of lungs!”

Chuu let out an anguished sound, and suddenly she cocked her gun. “Good thing Vivi said she’d take you alive or dead, you rotted bitch,” she hissed, shutting one eye as she aimed.

“Chuu, no!” Jungeun shouted, and a shot rang out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> points to anyone who gets the crossword puzzle answers 
> 
> twt: @bluejinsol  
> cc: @oddeyejinsol


	10. a pearl

Jungeun had heard far more gunshots in her life than the average human. She'd been both the shooter and the target, had held the weighty metal in her own hand and stared down the barrel. Now, the moment after she heard the familiar _bang_ , her eyes closed of their own accord, her whole body cringing away from the sound. There was a second of calm in that dark space behind her eyes, no sound except for the ringing in her ears and then the screaming began.

It wasn’t the high-pitched voice she was expecting, though. Instead, it was a voice she knew all too well, a voice that had at first irritated her to no end but now was music to her ears. She had never heard it like this, though, contorted with pain and fear.

Her eyes snapped back open, and she saw that Go Won was wide-eyed and very much  _ alive _ , no wound visible through her flimsy sundress. It only took Jungeun another second for her eyes to zero in on Chuu, who was now down on the floor, clutching her thigh. Blood was gushing through her fingers, and her mouth was still open in a silent scream.

It took Jungeun for a moment to realize what had happened, but her brain made the connection when she saw that Hyejoo was holding a smoking gun, aimed right at where Chuu’s leg would have been when she was standing. Fuck. They should have known she’d have a concealed weapon. Her hand was trembling, and she was staring at it like it had acted of its own accord.

“I can’t let you hurt her,” she whispered. It sounded like a realization.

At the same moment, both Hyejoo and Jungeun noticed Chuu’s gun on the floor, lying a few feet from where it had skidded out of her hand when she fell. They both made a break for it, but Hyejoo was closer to it and would definitely get to it first, so Jungeun threw herself at the other girl desperately, tackling her sideways to the floor. Hyejoo was stronger than she seemed, though, and she threw Jungeun off with ease. Jungeun retaliated quickly, springing back up into an attacking position, but she wasn’t fast enough. In those few seconds, Hyejoo had slid across the floor and reached just far enough to grasp around the gun. She brought it up with a swing of her arm, butting it straight into the base of Jungeun’s skull and sending her reeling.

Hyejoo sprang back, leaving a groaning Jungeun on the floor with her head spinning. The black-haired girl’s eyes were wild, and she was holding both guns now, pointing one at Chuu and the other at Jungeun. Chuu’s pained, ragged breathing was echoing around the room, making Jungeun’s head pound even harder.

“God, what the fuck am I doing?” Hyejoo whimpered, still seeming to be talking to herself.

“You’re saving me,” Go Won half-gasped, her eyes shining. “Because you love me, Hyejoo, and I love you. Uncuff me and let’s run away together. They’re gonna be after you too, now. I can protect you - protect  _ us _ . I’ll keep you safe. We’ll be happy, you and I.”

“Olivia, don’t,” Jungeun groaned from the floor, but it was no use. She could practically see the moment Hyejoo’s resolve crumbled, her eyes glazing over as Go Won said the words she knew Hyejoo needed to hear. Shaking, Hyejoo retrieved the key to the handcuffs and unlocked them, helping Go Won up and placing one of the guns into her hands. Go Won threw herself at her, hugging her hard, the taller girl holding her back just as tight.

They pulled apart, and Go Won flashed a breezy smile at Chuu. “See you girls another time,” she chirped, before taking Hyejoo’s hand easily and leaving the room, both of them keeping their guns trained on the two agents on the floor.

As soon as they were gone, Jungeun forced herself up and rushed to Chuu’s side. The girl was still holding onto her leg with a vicelike grip, but blood was still pumping through her fingers steadily. “Fuck, Chuu,” Jungeun gasped, ripping off one of her sleeves and beginning to make a tourniquet.

Chuu grabbed the fabric from her hands. “I’ll do this. Go after them,  _ now! _ ” 

Her tone was so commanding that Jungeun didn’t think twice before running out of the door. There was quite a crowd beginning to congregate outside of the room, likely because of the gunshot but also because they'd probably just seen two girls with guns running past.

“Where did they go?” Jungeun demanded, not hesitating before taking off in the direction that someone pointed her in. Her mind was swirling with everything that had just happened, but she couldn’t think about that now. The only thing she could think about was stopping them.

She was running as fast as she could, but she kept stumbling, her head throbbing painfully and making her stop in her tracks. That, combined with the head start they’d had on her, was too much ground lost for Jungeun to cover in time. 

When she burst out into the front deck, she was immediately greeted with a harsh blast of wind and the drilling sound of helicopter blades. There was a small chopper hovering above the ship, with a rope ladder hanging down on it. Go Won was climbing into the helicopter already, and Olivia was right below her, scaling the ladder quickly.

Without thinking, Jungeun propelled herself forward and leapt onto the ladder, grabbing Olivia’s ankle. The girl shrieked and tried to shake her off, but Jungeun had a firm grip, and she was tugging  _ hard _ . The helicopter was rising higher into the air, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t let them both get away.

“I’m sorry, Jungeun,” Olivia said quietly, before whipping out a pocket knife and slashing the back of Jungeun’s hand. It was only a surface cut, but the sudden jolt of pain made her let go automatically, and suddenly she was falling through the air, her stomach dropping, and then -

She hit the surface of the ocean with a hard smack, the water enveloping her in seconds. She sank like a rock, her vision growing black as she fell deeper into unconsciousness. The last thing on her mind before it went blank was Go Won’s high, tinkling laugh.

* * *

When the darkness faded into light, Jungeun was disoriented to say the least. The room she woke in was unrecognizable, completely white and bare except for Jungeun’s bed and a couple of chairs, but thankfully in one of them there was a familiar shock of purple hair behind a large textbook.

“Choerry, I just had the worst nightmare,” she tried to say, but the words came out slow and unsure, like her brain was loading. Still, it was enough to catch Choerry’s attention, and she instantly threw the textbook down and rushed to Jungeun’s side.

“You’re awake! Oh, I’m so relieved,” she sighed, clutching Jungeun’s hand and using the other hand to press the on-call button. A nurse arrived in a matter of moments, performing some basic tests on Jungeun and asking her questions. Thankfully the fuzziness she’d experienced upon waking was fading quickly, and she was more or less alert by the time the nurse was done checking her.

“Alright, everything looks good. Still, your concussion was moderately severe and your body went through a lot of shock, so we’d like to keep you for one more night just to be safe,” the nurse said.

“Thank you so much,” Choerry said. “Can we have a moment, please?”

“Sure, but … as soon as you’re up to it, some federal agents want to talk to you. They said it’s fairly urgent,” the nurse said, her eyes shifting uneasily to Jungeun before she left the room. Jungeun could tell she was wondering what kind of trouble she was in if the feds were trying to interrogate her half an hour after she’d woken up.

Once the door was shut behind her, Choerry turned back to Jungeun. “How are you feeling?” she said gently.

“Physically, okay,” Jungeun said, which was true for the most part. She’d been through a lot worse, comparatively. “Where is Chuu? How is she?”

“Recovering,” Choerry said. “They got the bullet out and treated the wound. She was really worried about you, wanted to see you really bad, but the feds said they needed to talk to you first.”

“Okay, bring them in,” Jungeun said immediately. Choerry nodded and left the room. Moments later, the door opened again, and it was Vivi and Haseul in official looking suits and phony badges. The contrast of Vivi’s bubblegum-colored hair against the rest of their serious getup made it impossible for Jungeun not to crack a smile.

“Agent,” Vivi said with a nod. “Glad to see you’re alright. As is your partner.”

Jungeun nodded, appreciating the reassurance from Vivi. “What happened? I mean, after I…”

“They fished you out of the water quite quickly, from what I hear,” Vivi said. “Of course everyone was in a ruckus over the gunshot, but nobody knows what actually happened. We’re masquerading as cops here, but if the real ones happen to ask you anything, you’re both to say that you came across them doing a drug trade so they shot Chuu and escaped on a getaway boat. You tried to go after them, which is why they found you in the water. By the way, attempting to jump onto the enemy helicopter? That was  _ extremely _ -”

“Badass?” Haseul said, making Jungeun jump a little. It was the first word she’d heard out of the woman since they'd met.

The corners of Vivi’s mouth twitched up a little. “I suppose,” she relented. 

“What about…” Jungeun couldn’t bring herself to say it, but Vivi understood.

“I knew something was wrong when my camera feed cut out,” Vivi explained. “I called tech and asked for Olivia, but they said she’d taken the day off. It was odd that she’d drop out on the most important day of the case she was leading, so I tried to reach her. When I couldn’t, I immediately sent out emergency backup in Jeju. They arrived too late, though.”

“If I could have stalled them a little longer,” Jungeun whispered, mostly to herself.

“Absolutely not,” Vivi said firmly. “You went above and beyond on this mission, agent. If anything, this is on me for not knowing that Olivia was planning this right under my nose.”

“It really did start out as a plan to help capture Go Won,” Jungeun said, not really knowing why she was defending her. “Everything kind of just went sideways. Go Won was so manipulative…”

Vivi nodded. “Sometimes the circumstances are out of control. Regardless, you did an excellent job. Both of you. I know you were hesitant to work with Chuu, but I think you made a brilliant team.”

“I do too,” Jungeun said softly, making Vivi smile. “Can I go see her?”

“Of course. I’ll bring your friend back.” Vivi and Haseul left with a nod, and Choerry returned with a wheelchair that she insisted Jungeun sit in.

“That agent had cute hair, didn’t she?” Choerry said as she rolled Jungeun down the hall. “She complimented mine, too!”

“You know that wasn’t an actual FBI agent, right? It was Vivi,” Jungeun said, her voice lowered.

Choerry stopped dead in the middle of the hall, her jaw dropping. “Oh my god,  _ what _ ? I have to go talk to her! Chuu’s in room 106, bye!” She took off sprinting back in Vivi’s direction, leaving an indignant Jungeun in the middle of the hallway, who instantly ditched the chair and walked the rest of the way to Chuu’s room. 

She knocked before entering out of courtesy, and when she heard Chuu’s bright “come in!” it was like all her physical pain melted away. Chuu was sitting reading a magazine in bed, but she sat up straight as a bolt when Jungeun entered.

“Jungeun!” she exclaimed, moving as if to get out of bed, but Jungeun was by her side in an instant, wrapping her up in her arms. She buried her face into Chuu’s shoulder, feeling choked up all of a sudden.  _ It’s okay. She’s right here, and we’re both safe _ , she thought to herself, breathing in deeply before pulling back.

“Are you okay?” Chuu instantly said, her eyes soft with concern.

Jungeun nodded, perching on the bed beside Chuu. “I’m all good, baby. What about you?”

Chuu’s face scrunched up. “I-I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I ruined our entire mission in just a split second of unprofessionalism, god.”

“It’s not your fault,” Jungeun immediately said, smoothing Chuu’s hair comfortingly. “She goaded you into it, and if that hadn’t worked, she would have convinced Olivia one way or the other to let her go. You know how she is, this is what she does.”

Chuu nodded, but it seemed unconvinced. “I guess… I can’t stop replaying it in my head, though. Thinking about all the things I could have done different.”

“Me too,” Jungeun admitted. “But this whole mission was rigged from the start, you heard Olivia say that. We did our best, and that’s all we could do.” She was half-talking to herself as well as Chuu. It was hard to come to terms with the idea that there was nothing she could have done to prevent this, but she’d be damned if she spent another year wallowing in regret and drowning in hypotheticals.

“Besides,” she added, squeezing Chuu’s hand, “someone really smart taught me how to move on from the past. Maybe you should take her advice.”

“Maybe,” Chu allowed, grinning. “You’re right, though. It’s in the past now. It’s finally over.” They both looked at each other, the realization actually sinking in. 

“It is,” Jungeun said quietly. “This is always the weirdest part about ending partnered missions, right? You’re so close for such a long time, everything revolves around you being together, and then you’re supposed to just. Let it go.” All of a sudden, Jungeun's happiness was overtaken by doubt. It wasn't unheard of for agents to become ...  _close_ on missions, purely due to the forced proximity and stress of the job. Was that what had happened between her and Chuu? Was there an expiration date for them?

“I don’t want to,,” Chuu said, determinedly. “My feelings for you are real, you know. They existed way before you knew, probably, and they still do. I want to be with you, Jungeun.”

Relief flooded Jungeun’s heart like a warm, crashing wave, and she exhaled softly. “You don’t know how happy I am to hear you say that. I do too, Chuu, I really too.”

“Jiwoo,” she corrected softly, and Jungeun kissed her girlfriend, heart swelling.

When they broke apart, Jungeun stayed in Jiwoo’s bed and they kept each other company until night fell, watching crappy hospital TV and talking absently. The nurse let them stay like that, even though it technically wasn’t allowed. Sure, the bed was uncomfortable and far too small, but now that Jiwoo was back in Jungeun’s arms she didn’t want to be away from her any longer than she had to.

Right before Jungeun was about to drop off to sleep, a quiet voice piped up. “Do you think Jinsol would have liked me?”

Jungeun felt that familiar pang of pain in her heart, but she smiled anyway, the thought of Jiwoo and Jinsol being friends making her heart warm. “She would have loved you,” she said, and she didn’t have to think twice.

* * *

_ A week later, she dreamt of Jinsol for the first time in a while. It wasn’t that boat again, though. In fact, the ocean was nowhere in sight, to Jungeun’s great relief. She’d realize this setting anywhere: it was the park where they celebrated the end of their first mission together. They used their brand-new cheques to buy the most expensive bottle of champagne they could find, and then drank and talked in a park nearby till the sun came up. _

_ Now, in her dream, it was that moment right before the sunrise when the inky black of the sky gives way to a warmer purple, with the promise of pink on the horizon. She made her way to the bench where Jinsol was sitting, the one they’d carved their initials into with Jungeun’s pocket knife. _

_ “Took you long enough!” she said brightly, and Jungeun just smiled, content to see her best friend. _

_ “I was kind of busy,” she said. _

_ “Understatement! That was some crazy shit. I’m almost glad I didn’t have to deal with all that.” _

_ “Shit, that’s right. It was your mission to start with.” Jungeun frowned. “And we fucked it up.” _

_ “You can be a real raincloud sometimes, you know that?” Jinsol replied with a familiar eye-roll. “Cheer up! You did great, and you made it out alive. That counts as a double success in my book. Sooo…” Jinsol procured the champagne out of nowhere. Right. This was a dream. She could do that. _

_ They clinked their glasses together and took a long sip, relishing the comfortable silence between them and watching as the sun began to peek out shyly, staining the sky golden. _

_ “Triple celebration, if you count the fact that you got a girlfriend out of this,” Jinsol added. “Trust you to wait till I was dead before finally settling down.” _

_ Jungeun snorted despite herself. “I think I’m really falling in love with her, Jinsol. I wish you guys could have met.” _

_ “I think we will, someday,” Jinsol said with a shrug. “Besides, I can see how happy she makes you, and that’s good enough for me.” _

_ Jungeun nodded. Then, “wait, you can see us? Or is that figurative?” _

_ Jinsol mimed zipping her lips shut. “Sorry, dude. There are some secrets from the other side that I can’t reveal.” _

_ Jungeun gasped. “Wait, is this really just a dream? Are you like, visiting me in the astral plane or some shit?” _

_ “Loose lips sink ships! Now wake up, dummy, you’re going to miss breakfast with Yerim. Say hi to her from me, will you?” _

Jungeun’s eyes snapped open, the blonde-framed face from her dream being replaced by a familiar redhead, her face squished adorably against the pillow. Jungeun smiled fondly, tucking a strand of hair behind Jiwoo’s ear.

“Love you,” she said quietly, in case Jinsol was really listening.

“Mmmf,” Jiwoo murmured, “love you too.”

Jungeun’s heart leaped as Jiwoo rolled over and settled back into the bed, still asleep. She gave her forehead a quick kiss before starting to get dressed.  _ She loves me _ , she thought, grinning stupidly.  _ Yerim is going to freak. _

 

EPILOGUE

 

“Okay, last one! Here it comes - watch out, to your right!”

Jiwoo and Jungeun danced around awkwardly, shifting the heavy table between them. They managed to set it just perfectly in front of the couch, though. Once that was done, they shared a celebratory kiss, standing in the middle of their new home.

Jungeun's initial worries had been quickly erased. It was clear that the two were meant for each other, mission partners or not. Jungeun fell fast and hard for Jiwoo, and by the time her lease was up, she didn’t have any doubts before asking Jiwoo to move in with her. Jiwoo had given an enthusiastic yes, and here they were less than a month later, having moved in the last of their furniture.

“Ugh, I’m gonna be sore till tomorrow,” Jiwoo complained. Jungeun made a sympathetic noise and rubbed her shoulders. The redhead relaxed into the touch, humming happily.

“I’m gonna go shower off all this sweat. Wanna join?” Jiwoo turned her head to raise her eyebrows suggestively at Jungeun.

Jungeun smiled and gave her an affectionate peck. “In a minute.”

Jiwoo nodded and bounced off in the direction of the bedroom, leaving Jungeun alone in the middle of the living room. She wrapped her arms around herself and allowed herself a goofy grin. She was just so  _ happy _ , in a way that she never thought she’d be. That she’d never been, even before Jinsol’s death. Jiwoo just completed her. She’d never known she was missing something before, but now, she couldn’t even think of going back to life before Jiwoo.

Her dreamy reverie was interrupted by the shrill ring of the doorbell. She jumped a little, puzzled at who it could be. Maybe a new neighbor, welcoming them in?

When she opened the door, there was nobody there. Convinced it was her imagination, she almost shut the door, but she realized something was sitting right outside the doorway.

A familiar brimmed straw hat.

She picked it up and slammed the door back shut instantly, her heart pounding. There was a small note tucked into the ribbon around the band, written in elegant cursive.

_ Kim - or should I say Lip? _

_ Took a page out of your book and decided to take a little break from work. I think my girlfriend and I are going to extend our trip, maybe do some traveling abroad. Speaking of which, I hear you and your undercover lover turned out to be the real thing. Talk about a plot twist!  _

_ Let’s hope we never have to meet again. xo C _

She stared at the note for a few unsure moments before decidedly tossing both it and the hat out of the window.

“Who was that?” Jiwoo asked when Jungeun stepped into the shower stall with her, handing her the shampoo.

“Nobody,” Jungeun said, giving her a soapy kiss. It was true, in a way. As far as Jungeun was concerned, the past was in the past. And Jiwoo? Well, she was in every foreseeable version of Jungeun's future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fin.
> 
> wahh we're really at the end yall... thank you So much to everyone who's been reading and commenting along! it rly means the world especially cause this fic started out as 1 scene sitting in my google docs forever! its my longest & most popular fic to date and i'm sad to see it go but happy to complete it!! thank you all i love u <333
> 
> twt: @bluejinsol  
> cc: @oddeyejinsol


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